This article is part of the Winds of Change newsletter

For those of us who are not fully-signed-up climate-change deniers or Net Zero sceptics, it’s been a fortnight of panic-worthy news. Wildfires in Los Angeles, 2024 confirmed as the hottest year on record, as well as the year of the highest recorded annual rise in carbon dioxide concentrations... then, of course, yesterday, the final climate-bashing Trump card.

It was no surprise. We knew what was coming but still, the blows seemed fast and hard: the new president’s signing, to roars of applause, of an executive order to withdraw from the Paris agreement; his confirmation in the inaugural address that, “We will drill, baby drill”.

The United States is already the world’s biggest producer of oil and gas, but Trump declared that he was going to “unleash” the nation to produce more.

He said. “We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, and export American energy all over the world. We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”

Trump’s America, the message was, would “save a trillion dollars” by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. Of course, there was no mention of the $38 trillion a year, which researchers have calculated climate change is on track to cost the world over the next 25 years.

If you’re reading all this, you probably don’t need to be told all this. But you might want a little positive reminder of the fact that global progress on climate continued in spite of Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement during his last presidency.

You might also like to repeat to yourself,........

© Herald Scotland