ABC star issues an urgent warning to Australia about Donald Trump

ABC finance reporter Alan Kohler has warned of the consequences to Australia when it comes to climate change if Donald Trump is to be re-elected as president.

Mr Kohler said in an opinion piece that Mr Trump’s disregard for climate change, including how he referred to it as a ‘hoax’, will mean ‘the world will not achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050‘.

Mr Trump plans to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement – where world leaders pledge to work to prevent the global temperature from rising by more than 1.5C – if he is to be voted in again.

‘Unless Biden quits, Australia and the world should be preparing for a second Trump presidency, which means preparing for global warming of a lot more than the Paris target of 1.5 degrees Celsius – at least 2 degrees, probably more,’ Mr Kohler wrote for The New Daily.

The finance expert said while it was ‘virtually impossible’ to reach net zero by 2050, the world should still keep it as the goal.

Mr Kohler said the actions of some of the most populated countries such as the US, China, India, as well as Europe, were important when it came to the future of the environment.

He said all four had ‘collectively increased, not reduced’ fossil fuels.

‘If Trump wins in November and Europe takes a right turn, it’s more than likely that the whole thing (reducing the use of fossil fuels) will simply be abandoned,’ he said.

Mr Kohler said Australia needed to focus on building a hydrogen and green steel manufacturing industry – which reduces carbon emissions. 

‘Unless the world’s scientists are wrong, at some point political and business leaders will hit the panic button, and desperately look for ways of reducing fossil fuels to save themselves,’ he said.

Mr Kohler added as Australia was the country with the ‘most sunlight hitting it’, it needed to ‘get ready to supply it’.

His comments come after Mr Biden’s widely-criticised performance in the 90-minute debate last week.

The debate saw the US president frequently lose his train of thought, trail off mid-sentence and mix up topics, prompting calls from politicians and pundits on both sides for the 81-year-old to step down.

Mr Biden still has no public plans to drop out or resign from office, as he has continued campaigning since the debate.

During the debate, Mr Trump was seen contorting his face in shock at Mr Biden’s confused meandering and frequent gaffes in the debate, at one point telling millions of Americans watching at home: ‘I really don’t know what he (Biden) just said.

‘He’s not equipped to be president. You know it and I know it.’

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