Three significant pieces of news have signalled rising global tensions over efforts to tackle climate change — and each for very different reasons.

Firstly, and perhaps not unexpectedly, President Trump decided to reverse the so-called endangerment finding, a key scientific ruling that had underpinned much of US environmental legislation. The decision stands to reduce the number of greenhouse gas emissions requirements in the US, and also have broader consequences such as slowing the uptake of renewable energy.

But as this Guardian leader piece illustrates, the move was in stark contrast to news of what’s happening in China, where emissions have been static or falling for 21 consecutive months, carbon reporting requirements are being tightened and the country has become a huge investor in clean energy.

Then this week, a new EU report outlined that member states are ill-prepared for the worsening impacts of climate change, with Europe now the worst-affected continent. The World Meteorological Organisation report called on the EU to increase investments to protect people and infrastructure from mounting floods, wildfires and severe heatwaves.

As Politico pointed out, you might think that the EU has taken the lead in introducing measures to reduce emissions and compel businesses to lower the environmental impact of its activities, but “while the EU has extensive legislation in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, no targets or policies exist for adaptation.”

All of this has, in all likelihood, been coming for some time.

Trump’s stance on climate controls and on the very existence of climate change are well known, so the removal of legal requirements to take action to limit it was always going to be a matter of when rather than if.

Equally, the level of China’s carbon output and the ambition of its current five-year plan for economic transformation was always likely to produce some drastic reduction in emissions, given the money Beijing has been pouring into renewables. And a loud and clear call for Brussels to focus on preparing for a changing and warming world, as well as moves to address the root causes, was pretty inevitable.

While the recent news is certainly profound, none of it is entirely unexpected. If anything, the breadth of implications just makes global efforts to address climate change even more complicated.

As The Economist pointed out, there’s an expectation that Trump’s decision will see multiple legal challenges, and a poll showed that “three-quarters of registered American voters think the government should regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.” Meanwhile, China is because of unveil a new five-year plan next month with some uncertainty over whether the pace and ambition of its clear energy drive will continue.

For companies with investors, customers, partners and employees that span these areas of geopolitical tension, there is even greater uncertainty ahead. Many will likely double down on what it can control and influence to reduce environmental harm, while avoiding getting caught in any crossfire.