Trump Budget Cuts Endanger Developing Nations’ Clean Energy Plans

If US President Donald Trump has his way, developing countries will struggle more than ever to clean up their energy programs.

Clean energy innovation is one of the main casualties of Trump's detailed budget proposal for 2018, released yesterday. It is US research networks that drive the low-carbon innovations that many developing countries benefit from. The budget also includes sharp cuts to international aid as well as spending on climate change adaptation programs.

Congressional representatives are almost certain to hit back hard on many of Trump’s proposals, so this document does not represent the final outcome of budget negotiations. But the Republican-dominated Congress may, in the end, approve steep cuts to climate programmes that have long been in Trump’s line of fire.

‘Anti-scientific’

The text is seen as "a continuation of the deeply anti-scientific philosophy of this administration,” said Rachel Cleetus, lead economist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group.

That philosophy could cripple efforts by developing countries to reduce emissions by switching to clean energy. Entrepreneurship projects in countries in Africa, for example, rely heavily on research and development in the US. When the cuts come in, some projects will need to be scaled back and others may end entirely.

To read the rest of this article, from the independent humanitarian news service website IRIN, click here. Lou lo Bello is a regular contributor to IRIN.