The dust still hasn’t settled here in Marrakech from Donald Trump’s shock US election victory, but attention at the UN climate summit is starting to turn towards how the rest of the world might soldier on without American leadership.

Barack Obama can claim a great deal of credit for bringing the world together in support of the Paris Agreement to limit climate change at last year’s summit, and “Team America” has led from the front in climate action for 20 years.

But the US President-elect has threatened to cancel the Paris accord, scrap all American contributions to UN climate programmes and denounced the very concept of man-made climate change as a Chinese hoax.

One theme emerging from the COP22 summit is the idea that shifting to a greener planet is not a matter of sinking money into an endless budget for “aid”, but a business opportunity.

And if Mr Trump can’t be convinced of that, there is no shortage of other world powers willing to step into America’s shoes.

The gloom in the wake of the Trump victory has focused on the US’s role as the world’s second-greatest polluter, responsible for 13 per cent of global emissions.

But Chinese representatives here point out the “gigantic size” of its own emissions – Chinese real estate alone accounts for 8 per cent of global emissions, similar to the total emissions of the EU.

One part of China’s plan involves phasing out steel and cement emissions by 2050 – a scheme which, on its own, would cut as much pollution as the entire emissions of the UK (twice over).

Riffing on Mr Trump’s own claims to deal with what he sees as the problem of Mexico, a representative of one Chinese NGO joked that China would be willing to cut the equivalent of all US emissions – “particularly if President-elect Trump gets his way” – adding that “we would get the US to pay for it”.

China sees the scope for international infrastructure projects and efficiency savings that climate action entails – and when it comes to reaping the benefits, the joke is on the US.

Europe is also eyeing up the opportunities here, and the chance to look for a partner to the east instead of the west, particularly on a subnational level.

At a side event organised by the China-Europe Forum, delegates discussed how the landscape of global climate action is shifting, and where the impetus for making a change now falls.

Michel Lebrun, the former president of the European Committee of the Regions and the man representing the EU at the China-Europe event, said it was up to local actors to step into the breach as Trump’s election highlighted the hazards of relying on heads of state for answers.

“Local governments, business and civil society play a key role in the adaptation and mitigation process [of fighting climate change],” he said.

The suggestion is that the major cities and regions of Europe – as the cradle of Western civilisation – can lead the way to a kind of climate enlightenment.

“During this COP22 in particular we are called to defend and support a fast-tracked implementation of the Paris Agreement,” Mr LeBrun said. “This is only possible if we establish a strong ecologically committed civilisation.”

Others feel that it will fall to the world’s biggest businesses to pave the way on climate action, driven by both the dispassionate economic arguments behind green innovation and strong leadership that does not rely on public opinion for its authority.

Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaía, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA

Dr Nathaniel Keohane, vice president of the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), named Walmart as an example of a huge company making voluntary, positive steps in this field thanks largely to the “personal interest” of its CEO, Carl Douglas McMillon.

But not everyone believes there is a simple solution to the question of who will take over from the US if Mr Trump takes his country out of the global movement to stop climate change.

In his keynote speech at the summit on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the “overwhelming majority” of Americans know that climate change is happening, and that if the world fails to act it would be a “moral failure, a betrayal of devastating consequences”.

Avipsa Mahapatra, from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) campaign group, says that is “one of the messages we can take away [from the Trump victory]… that it is not about any single country.”