The annual UN climate COP conference has begun in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku beneath a menacing cloud. Once again, the world’s richest country will be led by a leader actively opposed to fixing one of the world’s most intractable and existential problems.
Global efforts to rein in planet-warming emissions have never proceeded as smoothly or effectively as needed, ever since they began three decades ago. But Donald Trump’s return to the White House comes at an especially fraught moment for a green energy transition that is still closer to the starting blocks than the finishing line.
Another spate of exceptional heat means 2024 is on track to replace 2023 as the warmest year on record. The greenhouse gas emissions fuelling the heat that countries are supposed to be slashing instead grew to a record high last year, while weather extremes are battering cities across the globe with remorseless regularity. It is no time for the US, the second-biggest emitter after China, to be missing in action.