I fear that the likes of Trump in charge will only reverse any progress we’ve made in the West.
It may end much of the progress towards people voluntarily sacrificing for the environment, but I think certain technologies are already on a runaway self sustaining cycle:
- Heat pumps and electrification of residential heat is starting to make financial sense, even without subsidies and tax breaks.
- Electrification of cars makes transportation cheaper. In some countries, much, much cheaper.
- Solar power, during times of day that it is plentiful, is basically the cheapest energy source known to mankind. There is plenty of financial incentive to try to shift supply (through grid scale storage tech) and demand (time shifting things like heating/cooling and car charging) to meet this super cheap source of energy.
Trump can rant about carbon-free replacements for fossil fuels, but he can’t make them more expensive, especially not outside of the U.S.