When you hear that malevolent old fool Donald Trump tell the United Nations that climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, it’s hard to resist throwing up your arms in despair. If mighty America won’t set a good example, what hope is there for the rest of us?

But nature abhors a vacuum. And if the Americans are too busy making themselves great again to want to keep leading the world to a better future, my guess is that the aspiring great power China will be only too happy to take the reins.

Illustration by Simon LetchCredit:

Truth is, the Yanks have never been fully committed to leading the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables. When the Democrats are in power, they make the right noises, but whenever the Republicans take over they revert to uninterest. Until now, they’ve been like our Liberals, never openly opposing action to limit climate change, but never keen to get on with doing anything.

You’d be hard-pressed to believe there was a majority of climate-change believers in Congress. It’s never taken over national leadership of the transition to renewable energy.

Rather, as our Climate Council lobby group has explained, what progress the Yanks have made has come from pro-climate action state governments, which cover more than half of the US economy, as well as many companies sticking to the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

And America’s record on emissions of greenhouse gases isn’t as bad as you........

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