Joe Biden reassured people concerned about what effects a Donald Trump presidency will have on the Obama administration’s green policies that it is likely very little will be undone.

President-elect Trump has made it clear that he does not believe in the validity of climate change. He had even gone so far as to call it a hoax by China “in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive”.

Adding to fears among those concerned for the environment, he appointed a climate change denier – Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt – to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

But Mr Biden suggested that the policies in place have firmly taken root, and will be difficult for the incoming administration to dismantle, no matter how many fervent climate change deniers serve in the Cabinet.

“There is a constituency that crosses party lines. Regardless of whether the next administration is as aggressive as we have been – and I’m not suggesting they intend to – there is no way to turn back this tide that has begun to roll,” Mr Biden said at a Canadian environmental summit on Friday.

The Obama administration has invested heavily in renewable energy, raised vehicle fuel standards, and adopted the Clean Power Plan for states to reduce their carbon emissions.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke – filled with the carbon that is driving climate change – drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. “Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,” says the photographer. “Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.” Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a “public health emergency”. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan

As a result, Biden said, people and companies have spent less on energy than before.

“Reality has a way of intruding. Whatever uncertainty exists around the near-term policy choices of the next president,” Mr Biden said, “I am absolutely confident the United States will continue making progress on this path to a low-carbon future.

“And that’s because many of the trends I’ve mentioned have taken hold and are no longer dependent on government initiatives. They are market-drive, they are common sense.”

Still, Mr Trump has said he will undo the Clean Power Plan during his first 100 days in office, while eliminating “unwarranted restrictions” on fracking, and pull the US out of the Paris Agreement – the historical global pact to address and curb climate change.