US election: Trump victory could have ‘huge ramifications for the planet,’ says Ed Miliband

Joe Biden ‘serious’ about tackling climate crisis, says former Labour leader

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband has suggested that a Donald Trump victory in the US presidential election “will have huge ramifications for the planet”.

The shadow secretary for business said that Joe Biden, the democratic nominee, was “serious” about tackling the climate crisis, as he questioned Boris Johnson’s own commitments to addressing the issue.

Mr Miliband was writing in The Independent as he discussed the Cop26 climate summit, to be held in Glasgow next year, and urged governments across the world to step up their efforts in reducing global warming.

“The outcome of the US election on Tuesday will have huge ramifications for our planet,” the Labour politician wrote.

“Joe Biden’s plan to stay in the Paris accord and invest $2 trillon (£1.5 trillion) in clean energy, jobs and infrastructure shows he is serious about the task ahead.”

Mr Biden previously warned that the climate crisis is the “number one issue facing humanity”, insisting that the world has a “moral obligation” to reverse rising temperature trends.

The former vice president has vowed that a national transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will help to create millions of new US jobs.

He has also committed to rejoin the Paris Agreement – which the US will formally leave on 4 November – on his first day in office.

Mr Trump has meanwhile repeatedly attempted to downplay the threat of global warming, having once described it as “an expensive hoax” — though the president admitted more recently that humans have been responsible for rising carbon dioxide levels “to an extent”.

With one year to go until the Cop26 climate summit, Mr Miliband said it was vital that governments “make the next 12 months count” by using the fallout from Covid-19 as a means to deliver a green revolution.

“We should be under no illusions: whatever the outcome of the US election, we have a massive task ahead,” he added.

As for the UK, Mr Miliband said the government “needs to match its rhetoric with a proper plan for what our future energy system looks like, how it will decarbonise the way we heat our homes, a plan for our transport system … and show how land use and agriculture can play a central role in tackling the climate crisis.”