Trump Presidency Doesn’t Change Everything for Greens

    The election of Donald Trump is earth shaking. Yet it feels somewhat familiar.  I am reminded of an experience at an international conference on the Greening of Industry in Seoul, South Korea.

It was just before the 2010 midterm elections of Obama’s first term, and I was the only American in the room. The speaker at the podium was speculating about the upcoming elections in the US. Would the Congress remain in pro-environment Democratic hands? or would environment- skeptic Republicans gain control?

Then the speaker said something I will never forget:

“We (the rest of the world) will carry on our efforts to accelerate the transition to a green economy regardless of the outcome of the US elections”.   

And so it is for those of us in the US who work to accelerate the transition to a green economy. We will continue to advance our agenda, with a sense of urgency, whether or not the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency is a climate denier.

We have never enjoyed a federal government with an explicit “state vision of ‘low carbon, green growth’…. supplying clean energy and jobs as a new engine for growth” as they have in South Korea and other countries.

We have always done more with influence than authority.