Climate activists have reacted with dismay to Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, which will have major implications for the fight against dangerous global warming.

But experts suggest the shift towards a low-carbon economy will continue, with the United States at risk of losing out by moving away from clean technologies, and urged other countries to step up action to address the climate crisis.

Trump’s victory comes just days before countries gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the latest round of U.N. climate talks, an issue about which Trump has repeatedly dismissed concerns.

Domestically, Trump is expected to roll back parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, the signature climate legislation of Joe Biden’s presidency, such as incentives for electric vehicles, and has signaled support for increased fossil fuel extraction. .

And on the world stage, it has pledged to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the international agreement signed in 2015 in France to limit rising temperatures, for the second time.

Withdrawing from the treaty will not only slow climate action in the US, it will send a clear signal to other countries that the world’s second-largest polluter after China will take a very different approach to the climate change leadership role it tried to adopt during the Biden administration. .

Areeba Hamid, deputy chief executive of Greenpeace UK, said: “The return to the White House of the world’s most powerful climate denier will be met with fear around the world.”

But he said the damage could be contained if “the adults in the room speak up.”

“With crucial international climate talks coming up next week, (Prime Minister Sir) Keir Starmer must show he is up for it by standing up to the fossil fuel giants and taking the necessary steps to tackle climate change, protect the most vulnerable and build a better world for future generations.”

Laurence Tubiana, executive director of the European Climate Foundation and key architect of the Paris Agreement, said: “The US election result is a setback for global climate action, but the Paris Agreement has proven resilient and stronger.” than the policies of any separate country.”

“There is a powerful economic momentum behind the global transition, which the United States has led and benefited from, but which now risks losing,” he added, urging Europe to lead the way.

And he said: “The devastating toll of recent hurricanes was a grim reminder that all Americans are affected by worsening climate change.”

The victory comes in the wake of a growing number of devastating weather events made more extreme by global warming, which is currently around 1.3°C above pre-industrial levels.

A scientific analysis has found that last week’s deadly flooding in Valencia, Spain, and Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of the United States in the run-up to the election, were made more likely and more intense by climate change.

The UN Environment Program has warned that despite current climate efforts, the world is on track for 3.1°C warming by the end of the century, an outcome described as “catastrophic” by the UN Secretary-General. UN, Antonio Guterres.

Countries must submit updated plans to reduce their emissions through 2035 by the February deadline, just weeks after Trump takes office.

The UN has warned of the need for a massive effort to curb global warming to 1.5°C, the threshold beyond which increasingly dangerous climate impacts are expected to be felt.

And next week’s talks are expected to focus heavily on financing for poorer countries to move to a clean economy, protect natural habitats that store carbon and address the already inevitable impacts of drought, heat waves, storms, floods, rising sea levels and the collapse of natural systems. that is causing climate change.

With Trump heading to the White House, it seems unlikely that the United States will play a role in reducing emissions or providing the financing needed to fight climate change, at least for the next four years, but experts suggested that would not stop the shift towards cleanliness. energy.

Christiana Figueres, UN climate chief between 2010 and 2016, said: “The result of this election will be seen as a serious blow to global climate action, but it cannot and will not stop the changes underway to decarbonize the economy and meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

And he added: “Clean energy technologies will continue to outperform fossil fuels, not only because they are healthier, faster, cleaner and more abundant, but because they undermine fossil fuels at their weakest point: their unsolvable volatility and inefficiency.” .

Dan Lashof, U.S. director of the World Resources Institute, said Trump’s incoming presidency would “stall” national efforts on climate change, but both Democratic and Republican states were seeing the benefits of renewable energy and battery manufacturing. , and municipal, state and private sector leaders would step into the breach.

He said global support for climate action had increased significantly since 2016, when Trump was first elected, adding: “If Donald Trump withdraws from the Paris Agreement again, it would simply diminish the influence of the United States and give other countries an advantage in the burgeoning clean energy economy.”