Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Gore says U.S. climate curbs on track, hopes Trump will surprise

Published 12/04/2016, 05:06 AM
Updated 12/04/2016, 05:10 AM
© Reuters. Former US Vice President and Climate Reality Project Chairman Al Gore attends the opening day of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget

© Reuters. Former US Vice President and Climate Reality Project Chairman Al Gore attends the opening day of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are likely to fall irrespective of the pro-coal policies of President-elect Donald Trump, who may still surprise the world by embracing global action to limit climate change, former vice president Al Gore said.

Gore, a climate activist who will lead a 24-hour televised marathon on Dec. 5-6 about global efforts to limit rising temperatures, told Reuters that companies and U.S. states would cut emissions despite Trump's doubts that warming is man-made.

"Business alone, along with states, will almost guarantee that we meet the reduction targets (set by U.S. President Barack Obama) regardless of the policies the new president ends up adopting," Gore said in a phone interview.

Obama wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 26 and 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, a goal opposed by Trump who wants to promote jobs and bolster national security by exploiting more U.S. coal, oil and natural gas.

Gore said companies were finding that both customers and employees, especially the young, wanted greener, less polluting products. And prices of electricity from solar or wind power were falling below the cost of coal-fired power in many nations.

A Democrat, Gore also said it was premature to assume that Republican Trump would carry out campaign pledges to ditch the 2015 Paris Agreement signed by almost 200 nations, which aims to end the fossil fuel era by shifting to renewables in the second half of the century.

"It's too early to write off the prospects of the new administration surprising people like me on the upside," said Gore, a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his work to highlight the risks of global warming.

During the campaign, Gore once said Trump's policies would "take us toward a climate catastrophe."

Trump has dismissed the idea of man-made climate change as a hoax but told the New York Times on Nov. 22 that he had an "open mind" on the Paris Agreement, softening past opposition.

After Trump won, Gore offered on Nov. 9 to "do everything I can to work with him (Trump) and his administration." He declined comment when asked if Trump's transition team had been in touch.

Gore said it was hard to keep all campaign promises upon assuming what he called the "awesome responsibilities" of government, citing his own experiences from 1993-2001 with former president Bill Clinton.

Gore's Climate Reality Project will run a 24-hour broadcast from Monday at 2300 GMT, televised in 75 nations and available globally online, about actions to slow climate change in major emitters led by China, the United States, India and Russia.

It will also feature celebrities including Ryan Reynolds, Jon Bon Jovi, Carole King, Thirty Seconds to Mars and PJ Harvey.

Backers of the Paris Agreement taking part will include the U.N.'s climate chief Patricia Espinosa, Gina McCarthy, who is the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection, and California governor Jerry Brown.

© Reuters. Former US Vice President and Climate Reality Project Chairman Al Gore attends the opening day of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget

After Trump's victory, almost 200 nations meeting in Morocco reaffirmed backing for the Paris Agreement, saying there was a "urgent duty" to act to avert heat waves, extinctions of animals and plants, floods, droughts and rising sea levels.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.