now, after an anxious night watching election returns, diplomats are trying to put on a brave face. | getty by eric wolff 11/09/16 02:21 pm est climate negotiators in morocco are trying convince themselves that donald trump's victory will not necessarily upend the years of work they put into getting the world to commit to confronting global warming, despite the republican president-elect's promise to abandon the agreement and roll back president barack obama's climate rules. when the talks in marrakech opened monday, negotiators celebrated the formal implementation of the paris climate agreement a few days earlier, and then quickly settled into the technical work of converting the promises of that global pact into practical steps every nation could take to curb carbon emissions over the coming decades. story continued below a former obama administration official said trump's victory casts a shadow on the paris agreement. asked if he's worried trump will undercut the deal, the former official said, "best case scenario: benign neglect." now, after an anxious night watching election returns, diplomats and activists in marrakesh are trying to put on a brave face. "as i'm sure you'd expect, this has been a bit of a dark moment for many of the folks on the ground at cop as we're adjusting to the news and the reality of the upcoming administration," steve herz, a senior attorney for the sierra club's international climate program who is at the summit, said in a statement wednesday. "but overall, many of the folks in the climate movement seem to be ready to find a way to forge forward and continue to build on the momentum that brought us all together in paris last year. it's not lost on anyone that the climate crisis is going to continue regardless of any one world leader, so it would be safe to say that we're not going to waste any time." some delegation leaders have insisted the u.s. must continue to work to curb climate change, while other observers have suggested that trump will be unable to walk away from the paris agreement, now that climate change has been deeply woven into the fabric of international negotiations. because there are no legal consequences <u+2014> such as economic sanctions <u+2014> for not living up to the agreement, it remains to be seen what, if anything, the international community could do to force trump's hand. <u+201c>it completely upends every single element of the paris accord and almost certainly makes it impossible to deliver,<u+201d> ian duncan, a conservative member of the european parliament working on reforming the continent's emissions trading program, said of trump's victory, according to the news service euractive . some delegations simply hope he didn't really mean what he said. "president-elect donald trump has been the source of a lot of bluster on climate change over the last year," hilda heine, president of the republic of the marshall islands, said in a statement. "now that the election campaign has passed and the realities of leadership settle in, i expect he will realize that climate change is a threat to his people and to whole countries which share seas with the u.s. including my own." christiana figueres, the former u.n. climate chief who oversaw last year's negotiations in paris, said low-carbon policies are beneficial in themselves, aside from international commitments. <u+201c>beyond national politics, modernization of the energy system and of basic infrastructure is good for the us economy, for jobs, for growth,<u+201d> figueres, now with the climate nonprofit mission 2020, said in a statement. despite the five-hour time difference, negotiators watched results roll in through the night at election watch-parties, said rhys gerholdt, a spokesman for the world resources institute. a large group of non-governmental organizations and journalists persuaded the hotel royal mirage to keep its outdoor bar open all night. but as the night wore on, "there was certainly anxiety in the air," said melanie gade, a spokeswoman for the world wildlife fund. though the paris agreement has entered into force, it is a fragile deal. it comes with few binding provisions, relying instead on nations to make voluntary reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and agree to terms that would allow others to verify those cuts actually happen. the agreement also depends on a transfer of at least $100 billion per year in public and private funding from developed nations to developing nations to help both reduce emissions and adapt to the consequences of climate change. trump has promised to "cancel" the climate deal and roll back the federal regulations that would reduce u.s. greenhouse gas emissions, and doing so is only a matter of time, not authority. and the republican congress he will be working with should be easily convinced to cut off u.s. contributions to the green climate fund. environmental groups attending the talks took a more optimistic view, arguing that heightened international concern about climate change would make it difficult for trump to simply walk away from obama's commitments. david waskow, director of wri's international climate initiative, said in a briefing in marrakech wednesday that the climate process is "no longer siloed" and that the u.s. can expect to be faced with climate issues at other conferences, like the meeting of the g7 or g20 powers. "there is a process of peer pressure," mariana panuncio-feldman, world wildlife fund's senior director of international climate cooperation, who is at the talks, told politico in an phone interview wednesday. "climate change is a geopolitical issue. this has implications for u.s. engagement on many other issues including trade and global security. i believe that this not something that u.s. can walk away from." andrew restuccia and kalina oroschakoff contributed to this report. by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
global climate accord on rocky ground after trump victory - politico
eric wolff michael grunwald