Irish Examiner view: Water now our canary in the mine

President-elect Joe Biden has announced he will host a climate summit within 100 days of taking office.

Though the US’s electoral college yesterday sent Joe Biden to the White House, there will be, this morning, somewhere, some Trump supporters chanting ‘Stop The Steal’. Yesterday’s vote moved Trump’s election denial from the dishonest to the seditious, yet a rump of his base remains unmoved. Nevertheless, a particular onus falls on the Republican Party to try to contain his wildest provocations, especially as violence flared in at least three US cities when opposing protestors, some armed, clashed. That fuse must be quenched.

President-elect Biden yesterday moved to counter another of Trump’s denials when he announced that the US will host a climate summit within 100 days of his taking office. Once in office, he will reverse the US’s head-in-the-shale-sands decision to quit the Paris accord. He reiterated his pledge to put the US on a path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, though that seems more fudge than a promise.