The shockwave released from the results of the US election has been all-encompassing, and impossible to escape. From conversations with fellow geographers and family, there is a clear worry about the future state of renewable energy, particularly in the US. The future president of the United States, is by and large, a climate change denier. Now Donald Trump has made a great deal of his 'beliefs' known over the last year or so, but this one is particularly damaging. For such an influential figurehead to disregard climate change is to disregard any efforts to mitigate it. This leads to two main paths of destruction. On one path, US renewable energy is sure to suffer. He has pledged to cut spending on clean energy and pull out of the recently agreed COP21 agreements in Paris. This will reverse the progress towards sustainable energy that America has made, and prevent further growth of the sector.
The other path, perhaps the less direct one, is the influence on the global renewable sector. With a major player in politics and the global economy making such a high profile decision, any countries looking up to the US may follow suit. This could cause a snowball effect leading to a total collapse of global partnership in climate change mitigation. Similarly, such a large polluter not following global agreements makes the agreements far less valuable, as the US emissions will remain the same (or perhaps increase).
There are very few ways in which this decision (if it goes ahead) could benefit renewable energy. This is obviously a troubling position to be in, and the next few months will quite possibly determine the future of renewable energy.
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