Zeus: The great climate retreat spreads to Europe

Lack of investing in innovation will impact markets even more than tariffs.

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Ørsted and Eversource’s Revolution Wind installed the project’s first offshore wind turbine in September, off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. Photo: Kate Ciembronowicz/Ørsted.

(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc. His climate columns have appeared in USA Today, The Independent, and New Thinking magazine).

SAN FRANCISCO (Callaway Climate Insights) — UK climate envoy Rachel Kyte said while in South Africa this week that the world will need to prepare to fight climate change without U.S. participation or funding.

The Trump chaos that has crushed financial markets and threatens economies created a domino effect on investors, with climate initiatives specifically targeted as each day brings word of more cuts to U.S. climate funding around the world. While Europe’s political leaders put a brave face on it, without private financing, much of the work in electric vehicles, wind power, solar power and tech innovations is slowing down.

In Sweden, battery maker Northvolt, once the hottest climate startup in Europe, with dreams of supporting a European electric vehicle industry that could rival China and the U.S., formally declared bankruptcy.