“The U.S. election result is a blow in the fight against the climate crisis,” Laurence Tubiana, a lead negotiator of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, posted on X.  

“The window to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is closing — these next 4 years are critical,” she added.  

Tubiana was referring to the 1.5-degree-Celsius (2.7-degree-Fahrenheit) warming threshold that countries said they hoped to stay below at the 2015 U.N. climate summit (COP21), by means of individual emissions-reduction commitments. 

During his former presidency, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, but President Biden then signed an executive order to resume participation.  

Tubiana praised the country for its subsequent turnaround — for assuming what became a lead role “at the forefront of the green industrial revolution.”  

She credited Biden administration advancements like the Inflation Reduction Act for driving California’s emissions cuts and Texas’s renewable energy expansions.  

Trump already vowed months ago that he would again remove the U.S. from the Paris accord if he won the presidency, sources told Politico at the time. 

“Abandoning the transition to a cleaner, fairer, and more affordable economy would be a dereliction of responsibility,” Tubiana stated.  

Urging other nations to “not despair,” she expressed hope that “no other country will follow if the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Agreement.” 

Christiana Figueres, who served as U.N. climate chief during the Paris summit, offered similar remarks on X, describing the election results as “a major blow to global climate action.” 

“But it cannot and will not halt the changes underway to decarbonize the economy and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement,” Figueres stated. 

Next week, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change will convene the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, where countries aim to set new climate finance targets that could help meet those Paris goals in an ever-warming world. 

But experts fear that the event may not bring significant progress since the leaders of many major economies — including President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — will not be attending, Reuters reported. 

However, U.N. climate chief Simon Stiell on Wednesday stressed that preparations for COP29 “continue apace,” according to the Financial Times.  

Without a unanimous global effort to curb emissions and strengthen supply chains, no country will be able to “survive unchecked global heating, and no household will be spared its severe inflationary impacts,” Stiell added. 

Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I’m Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.

Trump’s reelection is creating uncertainty not only on the global climate stage, but also about the status of the clean energy transition at home. 

A complicated climate fight: Experts are anticipating a decisive turn toward more oil and gas drilling, as well as the possible repeal of emissions-reduction regulations.  

“There is no denying that another Trump presidency will stall national efforts to tackle the climate crisis and protect the environment,” Dan Lashof, U.S. director of the World Resources Institute, said in a statement. 

Unclear on oil: Although U.S. oil producers are expecting fewer regulations on crude production and lower oil prices in a second Trump term, reality may be more complex, according to CNBC. 

• Trump has also pledged to put more sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan oil — a move that could tighten markets and raise prices.
• Meanwhile, potential trade conflicts under Trump could harm the global economy and hamper oil demand.   

What’s the weather? Following the election, the fates of multiple climate- and weather-related federal agencies also hang in the balance, as NBC News reported.  

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have increasingly become targets of climate skeptics.
• For example, the Project 2025 conservative policy roadmap, drafted by the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, has advised that NOAA be “broken up and downsized.”  

Not a ‘death knell’: Lashof, from the World Resources Institute, reassured the climate community by stressing that Trump’s return “won’t be a death knell to the clean energy transition that has rapidly picked up pace these last four years.” 

• Lashof noted that both Republican- and Democratic-led states are benefiting from wind, solar and battery production.
• He emphasized that the former president “has every reason to build on transformations already underway” and that local leaders may also be able to advance “ambitious climate action.” 

Room for collaboration: “President Trump will face a bipartisan wall of opposition if he attempts to rip away clean energy incentives now,” Lashof said.  

Bipartisan interests such as geothermal energy development, climate-smart trade efforts and heavy industry decarbonization will be crucial going forward, according to Lashof.  

“These actions would be a win for U.S. manufacturing, national security and the climate,” he added.