Uncertainties over climate change remain for next leader

US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton attend campaign events in Hershey, Pennsylvania, November 4, 2016 (L) and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 22, 2016 in a combination of file photos. [Photo/Agencies]

Will the next US president cast a shadow on cooperative climate action between China and the United States?

That sounds worrisome if Donald Trump wins the election, as he has yet to be convinced that human activities cause climate change and blamed China for creating the problem.

"The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing noncompetitive," Trump said in a 2012 tweet.

If he takes the White House, Trump has vowed to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, which the US and China both ratified during the G20 Leaders Summit in September in a move that has been regarded as "crucial steps that helped accelerating the process of the rapid approval of the Paris Agreement," said Hakima El Haite, one of the steering committee members of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, on Sunday.

The two-week UN Climate Change Conference, set for Monday to Nov 18 in Marrakech, would witness the election of the next US president on the second day of the meeting.

The world's two largest carbon-emitters "took the lead and set good examples for other countries", said El Haite, making the Paris Agreement one of the quickest international pacts to come into force.

But as bold a comment as it seems, Trump's options on pulling out of the Paris Agreement are limited. Although his comments add uncertainties, he is unlikely to be able to undo the deal, El Haite said.

Zou Ji, deputy director of the National Center for Climate Change Strategy, shared similar views. "Although the US is able to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, it takes time," Zou said. "China is well-prepared to deal with challenges whoever will be the next president," Zou said.

Echoing his remarks, Chai Qimin, an analyst with Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation, said that even with any uncertainties, China has opportunities to make things better by taking actions to promote communications in the private sectors.

"China is able to take a step forward by enhancing cooperative mechanisms on municipal levels, such as the annual Low-Carbon Cities Summit that two nations started to jointly organize since 2015," Chai said.

wangyanfei@chinadaily.com.cn