Climate politics could be about to go into reverse

It's not just Trump - elections around the world may produce a new crop of net-zero critics in 2025.

- Pilita Clark

A few days after Donald Trump won the US election, I was at the UN climate COP in Azerbaijan, where I ran into the head of a climate change think-tank who said something unexpected.

He told me his US team had adopted the same communications guidelines the group used in China, where independent research groups tread carefully to avoid rattling Beijing's authoritarian regime. His US staff had to ensure all public comments were politically neutral, and avoid any moves that could be construed as overt attacks on the administration.

His words were a reminder of how fast climate politics has shifted in the US, where Trump is expected to gut a string of Biden-era environmental achievements. But the Azerbaijan COP also highlighted this: The US may not be alone. Elections are due or possible in 2025 in at least four other sizeable economies where relatively green governing parties face rivals that want to rein in, water down or reverse climate action.

Consider Canada, where an election is due by October and polls show Mr Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government trailing far behind Mr Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives. Mr Trudeau has launched a series of climate measures since he was first elected in 2015, including a 2019 system to put a rising price on carbon that has been hailed as a progressive green policy poster child and a top driver of projected emission cuts.