By SETH BORENSTEIN and MELINA WALLING

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — No matter what U-turn President-Elect Donald Trump makes on climate change, America’s clean energy economy won’t return to the dirty past, a combative but “bitterly disappointed” top American climate negotiator said Monday. he said.

At COP29, the first day of UN climate talks, Climate Advisor John Podesta struck a challenging but realistic tone at a press conference. He said Trump will likely withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris Agreement and seek to roll back many of the Biden Administration’s signature climate moves. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included $375 billion in climate spending.

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

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

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

During Trump’s first administration, from 2017 to 2021, many environmental regulations were rolled back, later reversed by the Biden administration. The incoming Trump administration has now signaled that it plans to roll back Biden’s changes.

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

“None of this is a hoax. This is real. This is 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 mitigate the most devastating effects of climate change.”

Podesta said the Biden administration is still negotiating even as it prepares to leave.