"Sorry, no one there." The nice young woman from the American delegation at the UN climate conference in Marrakesh is unable to provide the German journalist with an interview partner – someone who could answer questions on what will happen now, following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president. Donald Trump, who believes that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese. Who wants to build the controversial oil pipeline from Canada that Barack Obama blocked on environmental grounds. Who wants to cancel, with immediate effect, Obama's plan to reduce environmentally damaging emissions from coal-fired power stations. Everyone here in Marrakesh is talking about Donald Trump.
"Our climate envoy Jonathan Pershing will hold a press conference at the start of the week; you'll have to wait until then," the nice young woman continues. This will probably be Pershing's last climate conference; presumably he, like many of President Obama's team, will be replaced. Meanwhile, the outgoing secretary of state, John Kerry – a driving force behind the United States' progressive climate policy in recent years – is also awaited in Marrakesh. "Perhaps my trip is actually even more important now," he said, and sounded almost defiant.
Bärbel Höhn, chairperson of the Environmental Committee of the German Parliament, in MarrakeshImage: DW/J. Thurau
"Now more than ever"
Questions to members of the official German delegation meet with more icy reservation: No comment, we don't even know yet who we'll be negotiating with, they say. But we're also hearing that people want to get as much as possible finalized in Marrakesh, before Trump takes office in January. The Paris climate agreement, reached with the US last year, is to be fleshed out in detail. Some 100 countries have already ratified the Paris agreement, in record time, as if they knew what was on the cards for climate protection policy.
"Now more than ever. If the United States withdraws from international climate policy, it means that others – Europe and China – will just have to do more," says Bärbel Höhn, the head of Germany's federal environment committee, who is in Morocco for a few days. But she doesn't believe that Trump will be able to do all the things he's promised to do: "In rural areas in particular, in the Midwest, where people voted for him, many farmers are already working with renewable energies. He can't alienate them completely," says Höhn.
Joint solution under threat
Besides, Trump can only revoke the Paris agreement in three years' time – this is one of its clauses. He could, however, block it wherever possible. Above all, he could cut all environmental regulations at home in the US. It's seen as a bad sign that Myron Ebell, an energy expert who is also a climate change denier, is to oversee the handover of the Environmental Protection Agency to the Republicans.
Donald Trump greets Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2015 - the two men hold very different views on the environmentImage: Imago/UPI Photo
"If the US allows emissions to increase again, it'll be hard to achieve the two-degree target agreed in Paris," says Christoph Bals, the policy director of the environmental group Germanwatch. He also foresees the danger of a setback to the multilateral character of climate agreements. In other words: it will be difficult to try to get all countries to work towards a solution for the climate change problem if the United States is no longer involved.
However, Bals also believes that the triumphal march of wind and solar energy can no longer be stopped. "It's no longer worth investing in coal in the US, either, even if Obama's coal plan is cancelled," he says. And certain places in the US will continue to pursue climate protection policies: "In California, in many states." Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, is a trailblazer in matters of climate change. He too is expected in Marrakesh – and this is an American everyone here is looking forward to seeing.
Environmental reactions to Trump victory
Trump has made no secret of the fact that he does not believe in climate change, and that global warming is a hoax. Read what environmentalists and climate fighters are saying about his election victory.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Gray zone
"Trump must choose whether he will be a President remembered for putting America and the world on a path to climate disaster, or for listening to the American public and keeping us on a path to climate progress. Trump better choose wisely, otherwise - we can guarantee him the hardest fight of his life every step of the way.” - Michael Brune, Executive Director, The Sierra Club
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Dry reality
"Today is a bad day for international climate policy. That a climate change denier can be elected as the most powerful man in the world will make efforts to reduce emissions and secure adequate funding for adaptation measures all the more difficult... The international community needs reliable partners for ambitious climate policies." - Sabine Minninger, climate advisor for Brot für die Welt
Image: Getty Images
Out of control
"The Paris Agreement was signed and ratified not by a President, but by the United States itself. As a matter of international law, and as a matter of human survival, the nations of the world can, must, and will hold the United States to its climate commitments." - Jean Su from California-based Center for Biological Diversity
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/K. Salzmann/US Forest Service
Green solutions
"We know that yesterday's elections are undoubtedly going to affect the tone of the negotiations, but we know the task we have in front of us remains the same: that we must continue to keep our aim and our focus on the long-term that the countries set for themselves in the Paris Agreement." - Mariana Panuncio-Feldman, World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Senior Director of International Climate Cooperation
Image: Getty Images/R.Wise
Slow death
"For communities in the global south, the U.S. citizens' choice to elect Donald Trump seems like a death sentence. We are suffering the effects of climate change after years of inaction by rich countries... and with an unhinged climate change denier in the White House, the relatively small progress made is under threat." - Wilfred D'Costa, Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Melzer
Opening the floodgates
"President-elect Donald Trump's stance on global warming is well known. Ironically, he contributed to the popularity of our recent 'Turn down the heat'-report series for the World Bank by attacking it on Twitter. Yet apart from this, science cannot expect any positive climate action from him." - Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Image: Reuters/D. Reuter
Washed up?
"It's clear that Donald Trump is about to be one of the most powerful people in the world, but even he does not have the power to change the laws of physics... Climate change has become a geopolitical issue of the top order and no country can be perceived as not doing its fair share on climate without serious consequences for its standing in the world." - Alden Meyer, Union of Concerned Scientists
Image: Reuters/T. Kalifa
A burning issue
"As a young woman and first-time voter I will not tolerate Trump's denialism of the action needed for climate justice. Our country must undergo a systemic change and just transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy within my lifetime. The next four years are critical for getting on the right pathway." - Becky Chung, the youth network SustainUS.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Edelson
Time to be clean
"The fact of climate change is not changed by what happened last night. At this very historic moment, it is important to remind ourselves that we were in the wilderness before and progress was possible. Leaders across the world will expect the US to honor its commitment and they won't wait in the race to the renewable energy future." - Li Shuo, Greenpeace China
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Shrinking opportunities
“Donald Trump is the newly elected President of the United States. As of today, the Paris Agreement is an even stronger signal against denying reality and for global cooperation to solve the pressing problems of the world... You cannot ignore the facts." - Christoph Bals, Policy Director of Germanwatch
Image: Getty Images/M.Ralston
Powerful force
“Trump will try and slam the brakes on climate action, which means we need to throw all of our weight on the accelerator... We need the rest of the world to charge ahead and look beyond the White House to partner with civil society, businesses, and local governments who are still committed to climate action... Our work becomes much harder now, but it’s not impossible.” - 350.org
Image: AP
Growing concern
"Africa is already burning. The election of Trump is a disaster for our continent. The United States, if it follows through on its new President's rash words about withdrawing from the international climate regime, will become a pariah state in global efforts for climate action." - Geoffrey Kamese from Friends of the Earth Africa
