The Climate Briefing: What Does the US Election Mean for Climate Change?

Hopes for progress on international climate action could hang in the balance at the upcoming US presidential elections.

Audio Updated 15 October 2020 40 minute listen

The media cycle in the US and across the world is consumed by the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election, with incumbent Donald Trump hoping to win a second term against the challenge of former Vice-President Joe Biden. Much of the debates around the election have focused on the response to COVID-19, and the candidates’ positions on issues related to ‘law and order’. But what will the election mean for climate policy? And how will the result affect the international negotiations at COP26 and beyond?

To find out Anna speaks to Amy Harder, an energy and climate change reporter at Axios, about Trump’s first term of climate policy and the campaign pledges of the respective candidates. Then Ben discusses the international implications with Jennifer Morgan, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International.