Renewable energy sources will continue to grow in the US despite the antipathy of the incoming administration, says President Obama. The President says it’s unlikely that power companies will switch back to coal, regardless of Mr Trump’s plans to boost production. Mr Trump has also said he wants the US to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.
But President Obama says this would see the US lose its "seat at the table". The President’s views appeared in a policy forum article in the highly regarded research journal, Science. The editors believe it is the first time that a sitting President has written such a feature.
In the article, the President argues that a "massive scientific record" shows that climate change is "real and cannot be ignored".
Mr Obama also details the reasons he believes the trend towards a low-carbon economy is now "irreversible".
He points to the fact that between 2008 and 2015 the US economy grew by 10% while emissions of CO2 fell by almost the same amount.
Mr Obama says that US businesses have increasingly seen the financial benefits from cutting carbon through greater energy efficiency.