Cop29: US Democrats put on brave face as Republicans talk up cheap energy

US climate envoy says Trump won't derail progress as GOP argues for increasing oil and gas production at UN talks

Throughout the UN climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, in recent days, US officials have maintained a studiously sunny disposition, saying that the Republican president-elect, Donald Trump, will not derail climate progress.

The US climate envoy, John Podesta, said the fight for a cleaner, safer" planet will not stop under a re-elected Trump even if some progress is reversed. The energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said: The absence of leadership in the White House does not mean that this energy transition is stopped." And Joe Biden's climate and energy assistant, Jacob Levine, told reporters that the president's climate policies had sparked an unstoppable clean energy revolution".