donald trump <u+2019>s surprise victory is injecting a wave of uncertainty into a global climate conference that began this week in marrakesh, morocco. mr. trump, who has called climate change a hoax, said he would cancel an accord the obama administration helped broker among nearly 200 nations last year in paris and would cut off u.s. aid to a $100 billion global fund to help poorer nations address climate change. <u+201c>there is a bit of shock across many of the corridors about what it means,<u+201d> said dirk forrister, ceo and president of the international emissions trading association, a business group supporting market-based policies addressing climate change, when reached by phone in marrakesh on wednesday. many government officials at the marrakesh gathering aren<u+2019>t speaking publicly about the u.s. election, but some issued statements indicating they would be cautiously urging mr. trump to keep working on climate issues. <u+201c>the world can count on [the european union]to continue to lead on climate and drive the global clean energy transition,<u+201d> said miguel arias ca<u+00f1>ete, the european union<u+2019>s commissioner for climate and energy, in a tweet earlier wednesday. <u+201c>we need all our partners on board.<u+201d> in addition to pledging to undo the paris global climate deal, mr. trump has also vowed to undo president barack obama <u+2019>s signature domestic climate rule cutting carbon emissions from power plants, along with a raft of other environmental regulations. <u+201c>climate change policy is going to come to a screeching halt,<u+201d> said robert mcnally, president of energy-advisory firm the rapidan group and a former adviser to president george w. bush. <u+201c>the paris agreement from a u.s. perspective is a dead agreement walking.<u+201d> the united nations conference kicking off in marrakesh this week was supposed to begin the hard technical process of implementing the paris deal after world leaders already took the hard steps to agree to the plan. mr. trump<u+2019>s unexpected victory reopens the politics of the deal. <u+201c>nations need to do what they want to do in their self interest, but the u.s. has made a climate pledge and that<u+2019>s something they<u+2019>ve put on the table and we<u+2019>ll have so see how that develops,<u+201d> said nick nuttall, spokesman for the u.n. framework convention on climate change. while mr. trump can<u+2019>t unilaterally cancel the paris deal, he could begin the lengthy process of officially withdrawing the u.s. from it, which could take years. since the deal is officially in effect, a country must wait three years to pull out, and once it makes that decision, it must wait another year to actually do so. rep. kevin cramer (r., n.d.), an energy adviser to mr. trump, also recently said he could require the gop-controlled senate to ratify the deal, a move that would be unlikely to muster the necessary support to pass. mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign said earlier this year that he would review a 2009 scientific finding the obama administration issued that is the legal underpinning of the outgoing president<u+2019>s entire regulatory apparatus addressing climate change. such a move would surely be challenged<u+2014>and likely lose<u+2014>in court, given legal precedent on this issue. but the sheer act of reviewing the finding could cast a cloud of political uncertainty over the science of climate change, which most scientists agree is at least partly caused by humans<u+2019> burning of fossil fuels. many of mr. trump<u+2019>s proposals on energy and climate policy lack detail, leaving some climate change experts hopeful he may tone down his plans to block policies that would help stop global warming. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ll have to wait and see what happens,<u+201d> said bob ward, policy and communications director at the grantham research institute on climate change and the environment. <u+201c>he will presumably get advisers on these issues that will help explain the lay of the land.<u+201d> a request for comment from the state department<u+00a0>on wednesday<u+00a0>wasn<u+2019>t immediately returned, but in a conference call with reporters last week previewing the climate talks, top administration officials struck an optimistic tone when asked about a potential trump presidency. <u+201c>i think what we have seen in recent months and in fact in recent years is there is a recognized and now inevitable transition to a low-carbon economy,<u+201d> said john morton, senior energy and climate adviser at the white house. <u+201c>we will see countries continuing to move forward at a fast clip irrespective of what happens next tuesday.<u+201d> <u+201c>the u.s. has played a leading role in putting together the paris climate deal,<u+201d> barbara hendricks, germany<u+2019>s environment minister, said on wednesday, adding that <u+201c>the paris deal stands, and even the u.s. agreed to it and thus committed to environmental protection efforts.<u+201d> <u+201c>we assume that commitments made under international law stand and will be met even after a change in government,<u+201d> ms. hendricks added. <u+201c>we have a very good relationship with the u.s. when it comes to climate protection and we wish that it stays that way.<u+201d> the german government last week postponed approval of measures to cut greenhouse-gas emissions because of fighting between the parties in chancellor angela merkel <u+2019>s left-right coalition. write to amy harder at amy.harder@wsj.com and sarah kent at sarah.kent@wsj.com
donald trump<u+2019>s victory injects uncertainty into climate accord  - wsj
amy harder sarah kent