By SETH BORENSTEIN and MELINA WALLING

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — No matter what turnaround President-elect Donald Trump makes on climate change, America’s clean energy economy will not return to a dirty past, a combative but combative top U.S. climate negotiator said. “bitterly disappointed”. said Monday.

On the first day of the UN climate talks, COP29, climate advisor John Podesta struck a provocative but realistic tone during a press conference. He said Trump would likely withdraw the United States from the historic Paris accord and attempt to roll back many of the Biden administration’s signature climate measures, including the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that included $375 billion in climate spending.

“Are we facing new headwinds? Absolutely. But we will not return to the energy system of the 1950s. No way,” Podesta said.

“Setbacks are inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable,” Podesta said, paraphrasing a Biden speech last week. “This is not the end of our fight for a cleaner, safer planet. Facts remain facts. Science remains science. The struggle is bigger than an election, than a political cycle in a country. This fight is even greater because we are all living through a year marked by the climate crisis in every country around the world.

During the campaign, Trump said he would pull America out of the Paris Agreement, roll back parts of the IRA and increase oil drilling and production. He called emissions regulations the “new green scam” and claimed, without evidence, that offshore wind turbines harmed whales.

Under the first Trump administration, between 2017 and 2021, many environmental regulations were repealed, only to be rolled back by the Biden administration. The new Trump administration has announced plans to reverse Biden’s changes.

During his press conference, Podesta rattled off a list of climate disasters, starting with the hottest day on record, July 22, through floods, hurricanes and droughts.

“None of this is a hoax. It’s real. It’s a matter of life and death,” Podesta said. “Fortunately, many people in our country and around the world are working to prepare the world for this new reality and to mitigate the most catastrophic effects of climate change. »

Podesta said the Biden administration was still negotiating even as it prepared to leave.