Donald Trump's fossil fuel agenda gets priority over climate change at Republican convention

For those assembled at the Republican National Convention this week to officially declare Donald Trump their party’s nominee for the election in November, climate change is essentially a footnote.

“I don’t believe all that,” said Jack Prendergast, from New York, who believes that human activity does just as much harm to the planet as “when a volcano goes off.”

“Trump is going to drill pipelines and we’ll become the leading supplier of energy in the world, in the gas and the oil,” Prendergast told the media.

And the former president has promised as much – adopting the slogan “drill, baby, drill” to sum up his fossil fuel-friendly approach.

Trump, who withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord during his first term, on Monday appointed a fellow climate skeptic as his running mate: Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.

The 39-year-old, who would become Trump’s vice president if they are elected, has previously accused Democrats of stirring up fears about climate change for political gain.

The two men will run on a 5,000-word Republican platform adopted on Monday by the party’s delegates which makes no mention of plans for climate change or renewable energy.

Instead, it promises to end “green” policies it deems “socialist,” and says the United States will become the world’s number one oil and natural gas producer – a position it already holds, according to official data.

Trump himself has said he is opposed to wind power – a widely-touted alternative to fossil fuels – as he is convinced it “kills all the birds”.