With Donald Trump back in the White House, the USA can once again choose to resist or withdraw from international climate efforts, as when the country withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017.
The question is also whether the next American government is interested in reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions at all.
The USA is one of the countries in the world with the largest emissions. It will require extremely powerful changes for the USA to get into the game, says Romina Pourmokhtari at a press conference ahead of the UN climate summit COP29, which begins next week in Azerbaijan.
With a USA that no longer cares about climate goals, new leaders are needed at the international level, according to Pourmokhtari. She believes that the EU can step into the USA's place.
If they are now backing down, others need to take that space. In a setback, I am convinced that the EU can take greater leadership in these issues and fill the gap needed in climate policy, not least in climate negotiations, she says.
