Trump win could signal "game over" for earth's climate, according to scientists

Several scientists have warned that a Donald Trump presidency is a huge threat to the progress of climate change legislation, and some have even referred to it as an "unmitigated disaster".

During his campaign, the Republican vowed to do dismantle various regulations brought in during the tenure of Barack Obama, including the Paris climate accord, which came into effect only last week.

The scientists told the Guardian that the progress made during the last few years could well be undone.

"This is an unmitigated disaster for the planet," said Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The New York businessman has previously commented that climate change is a hoax invented by the China.

"A Trump presidency might be game over for the climate," said Michael Mann, a respected climate change expert. "It might make it impossible to stabilise planetary warming below dangerous levels."

Many US conservatives and business chiefs have downplayed the impact of climate change, and say that the new regulations have hampered profits.

The Paris agreement obliges nations to maintain a a global temperature rise below a threshold of two degrees, and if the US were to exit the deal, other nations may follow.

"Millions of Americans voted for a coal-loving climate denier willing to condemn people around the globe to poverty, famine and death from climate change," said Benjamin Schreiber, climate director at Friends of the Earth US. "It seems undeniable that the United States will become a rogue state on climate change."

Trump will take office in January 2017, and time will tell how many of his anti-establishment and populist policies will come to pass alongside a Republican, but hostile, Congress and House of Representatives.