The White House’s outgoing climate czar weighs in on Trump
Zero: The Climate Race
Bloomberg
4.7 • 219 Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2024
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At COP29 in Baku, Akshat Rathi is joined on stage at Bloomberg Green’s live event by Ali Zaidi, President Biden’s National Climate Advisor. Zaidi argues that it would be “economic malpractice” for the Trump administration to abandon the energy transition. Plus, veteran climate diplomat Jonathan Pershing explains why he believes global competition will result in an “acceleration of action” on green policy.
Explore further:
- Past episode with Ali Zaidi on the momentum generated by passing the IRA
- Past episode with California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna on what Trump’s election means for US climate policy
- Past episode with COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev on what would make this conference a success
Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Jen Dlouhy, Sharon Chen, Siobhan Wagner, Ethan Steinberg, Blake Maples, and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Zero. I am Akshutrati. This week, climate action under Trump. |
| 0:18.7 | It's week two at COP29 in Baku. The negotiations are heating up. Much of the fight is about money. |
| 0:27.0 | But countries like Saudi Arabia are also opening up old fights about fossil fuels. How does this all go down? |
| 0:34.7 | We'll bring you more about whether there's a deal on climate finance or not next week. |
| 0:40.0 | Till then, I thought I'll share two conversations I had about climate action over the next four |
| 0:45.4 | years as Donald Trump retakes the White House. |
| 0:48.9 | The first one is with Ali Zahidi, who is currently the climate czar under President Joe Biden. |
| 0:55.0 | I talked to Ali on stage at the Bloomberg Green event here in Baku |
| 0:59.0 | about what exactly endures inside the US on climate action. |
| 1:03.0 | And can anyone pick up the slack that's left behind when the federal government stops acting? |
| 1:15.6 | The second one is with Jonathan Pershing, who is the head of the environment program at the Hewlett Foundation, and a veteran U.S. diplomat on all things climate. |
| 1:21.6 | He says that the world is a lot more prepared for a Trump presidency this time, and there's |
| 1:26.6 | also a lot more momentum on climate action presidency this time, and there's also a lot more momentum |
| 1:28.0 | on climate action. |
| 1:29.8 | That means both Ali and Jonathan agree that things are likely to slow down rather than reverse |
| 1:37.3 | under Donald Trump. |
| 1:39.0 | That's not to say it's good news, but it does create opportunities for other countries to step into the void and take on a leadership role. |
| 2:07.5 | Welcome to Blumbergreen and welcome back to the Zero podcast. |
| 2:08.9 | Fantastic for you with you. |
| 2:15.0 | Now, last time we talked about two years ago, India and Pakistan were going at it at the World Cup. |
| 2:22.3 | And you were celebrating the US having passed the largest climate legislation ever passed. Now there's good news and bad news. The good news is India has actually won a World Cup since then. |
| 2:27.3 | But who's keeping score? |
... |
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