In this week’s newsletter: Fear of retribution from the unpredictable president has left climate summit negotiators feeling nervous and vulnerable
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nder Donald Trump, America has not only jettisoned any effort to deal with the climate crisis, but has also attempted to stymie moves by other nations to shift to cleaner forms of energy, such as solar and wind.
The climate crisis is “the greatest con job perpetrated by the world”, Trump told the UN in September, urging other governments to stick to oil and gas (preferably drilled in the US, of course) and ditch the “scam” of renewable energy.
So, the US’s absence from the Cop30 climate summit under way in Belém, Brazil was initially met by other delegates here with a kind of relief akin to when the school bully takes a day off sick.
