Weekly wrap: Trump and the Mexican climate chief

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UNFCCC chair Patricia Espinosa and Donald Trump (Pics: UN Photos; Flickr/Gage Skidmore)

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Patricia Espinosa is the stuff of Donald Trump’s nightmares.

A powerful woman and a Mexican, she has been chosen as the UN’s next climate change chief.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for US president after his rivals dropped out this week, says climate change is an expensive hoax.

Surprisingly, his supporters don’t all feel the same way. More than half (56%) think global warming is happening and 49% say the US should cut its emissions, regardless of what other countries do.

It might offer a grain of hope to Laurent Fabius, who told journalists his fears for the Paris Agreement under the next US president:

“If a climate denier was elected, you can imagine the impact, not only in the US but in other countries”

EU inaction didn’t escape the French former foreign minister’s attention, either. He warned it would be “damaging” if – as looks likely – the EU could not ratify the climate pact before it entered into force.

Quick hits

S&P: Banks that ignore climate risk face credit downgrade
Morocco: COP22 will be a ‘brainstorming’ summit
World Bank: Asia coal power plans a ‘disaster for climate’
Business: Ben & Jerry’s, Toyota commit to science-based targets
UN: Climate pledge synthesis report shows progress

Read more on: Breaking News