Trump election victory leaves UN TERRIFIED as Antonio Guterres says global climate change deal on brink of being ‘crippled’

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has claimed a Donald Trump presidency could leave the Paris climate agreement on the brink of collapse.

Guterres emphasised the importance of continued US participation in global climate efforts at the Cop16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia.

The UN chief said that a US withdrawal from the accord could severely damage international cooperation on climate change.

He stressed that whilst the agreement could survive without American involvement, it would be akin to losing a vital organ or limb.

“The Paris agreement can survive, but people sometimes can lose important organs or lose the legs and survive,” he told The Guardian.

“We don’t want a crippled Paris agreement. We want a real Paris agreement.”

He added: “Its very important that the United States remain in the Paris Agreement, and more than remain in the Paris agreement, that the United States adopts the kind of policies that are necessary to make the 1.5 degrees still a realistic objective.”

The UN chief’s concerns stem from reports suggesting that if Trump wins, his administration could withdraw the US from the UN climate negotiating framework entirely.

It would then require Senate approval for the US to rejoin the framework.

Trump has pledged to unleash a new wave of investment in fossil fuels if elected. He also plans to cut support for electric cars and renewable energy.

The former president previously withdrew the US from the Paris agreement in June 2017, with the formal departure taking effect in November 2020.

It made the US the first country to officially leave the accord.

President Joe Biden rejoined the agreement on his first day in office in January 2021, restoring US participation in the UN climate process.

Kamala Harris has long advocated for climate change policies and in August said that she believed it important the US led the way on the issue.

“We have set goals for the United States of America and by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed, Harris said told CNN.

“What I have seen is that we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”