BRUSSELS — Their worst nightmare is now a burning reality.
Climate diplomats and top-ranking activists on Wednesday struggled to project calm as it became inevitable: Donald Trump is returning to the White House.
Trump — a man who has ridiculed climate concerns, promised to rip up U.S. participation in the Paris climate accord and vowed to extract fossil fuels without limit — will, once again, be a major determinant of whether the world slows climate change fast enough.
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The morning of his victory, however, saw a barrage of statements talking down Trump’s likely impact on plans to slow greenhouse gas emissions, in an attempt to calm nervous clean technology markets and to present the transition as a fait accompli.
