It could have gone in the exact opposite direction.
At the state level, the margins were fine in some places.
Thus, the world could have woken up to another four years of a presidency that denies science and that the world is in an accelerating climate crisis.
That a few US votes had the power to influence whether the Kenyan farmer will be able to harvest in the future, whether the fisherman in Vietnam will avoid sea level rises, whether Skåne's sandy beaches will be swept away, is one of democracy's biggest paradoxes, but also its merits.
Joe Biden won the presidency at a time when thousands of American cities and businesses have already decided to invest in the transition to renewable energy.
Now they will be helped by the country's highest office.
Solar and wind power supply more electricity than coal power in the United States
These are scientific facts that will guide American climate policy.
The world's most powerful political office will be held by a politician who has been a pioneer in the climate field for decades and who has said that the climate crisis is humanity's greatest threat.
From the time Joe Biden applies to rejoin the Paris Agreement, it will only take 30 days before the United States returns.
By re-signing the Paris Agreement, Joe Biden will commit to delivering an action plan for how the United States will become carbon neutral by 2050. The United States is already on its way.
Despite Donald Trump's craze for American coal power, and the promise to stop the war on coal, the American coal industry has shrunk by 44 percent during his time in the White House.
It is not profitable anymore.
Solar and wind power today supply more electricity than coal power.
Trump repealed hundreds of environmental laws
Thus, the world's three largest economies, China, the United States and the EU, will now have measurable goals for how to phase out fossil fuels.
Together, they account for two-thirds of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Even Russia announced a plan the other day how to increase the pace of its phase-out of fossil dependence.
When the gunpowder smoke subsides, a restart of American environmental policy awaits.
Joe Biden has the support of the country's citizens, where 60 percent today state that they are worried about the climate change that they themselves have been able to notice.
Donald Trump managed to repeal about 100 environmental laws, but only a few gained legal force in the country's courts because the president's legal texts were judged to be too weak.
Therefore, the assessment from American environmental lawyers SVT has been told that it will be relatively quick to restore the environmental laws that were introduced under President Obama's administration.
This includes emission requirements for American coal power.
The United States has lost momentum
The country's conservation agency, EPA, has been heavily defiled during Trump's time in power and leading positions have been filled by climate deniers.
Recently, six former EPA executives demanded that the agency make a total restart in the event of a Bidens victory in order to re-establish research and science and restore confidence in the EPA.
But internationally, the United States has lost momentum and ended up in second place after Saudi Arabia in a ranking of effective climate policies, this when there is a global competition to gain market share in the profitable green energy sector.
The EU has emerged as the leading economy in climate change and has signaled its intention to introduce carbon dioxide tariffs to protect European companies, which are now investing in the transition to green energy.
China has said it wants to become an "electric power" and be a leader in electric car development.
It remains for the United States to see what role it can play.
Joe Biden has signaled that he wants to continue to protect American jobs.
But should he, like the EU, invest in a Green New Deal, there could be momentum where both major powers invest in climate tariffs and abolish subsidies for fossil fuels.
Election victory epoch-making
Enormous challenges remain.
Republicans appear to be retaining power in the Senate and will do everything in their power to delay Biden's promised investment in a green restart for the United States, with promised investment in infrastructure such as the world's fastest and most efficient railroad.
With a President in the White House signaling that the transition to a green and energy-efficient economy is the agenda that the United States will follow, the decommissioning of fossil energy sources will be even faster.
Developing countries such as India and Nigeria can once again count on climate subsidies from the United States to support their countries' energy transition in the green direction.
In this way, Joe Biden's election victory is epoch-making for global climate work.