Is this the start of a new era of global backsliding on climate policy, or a temporary shift, likely to last just a few years? It's still impossible to answer this question, but Donald Trump's rhetoric, during his inauguration speech on Monday, January 20, once again proved that the fight against the green transition is an angle that populism has seized on. As mega-fires destroyed Los Angeles, the 47^th president of the United States promised to use "that liquid gold under our feet" to "bring prices down" and "export American energy all over the world." "We will be a rich nation again," he quipped, before announcing the end of the Green New Deal and Joe Biden's policies in favor of electric vehicles, which he falsely labeled an "electric vehicle mandate." "In other words, you'll be able to buy the car of your choice."

This was in line with his campaign promises and his strategy of accumulating people's anger. "Populists seize on all problems to turn them against the elites," said essayist David Djaïz, co-author of La Révolution Obligée ("The Obligatory Revolution," on the green transition). "In this sense, environmentalism, enlightened by science and requiring new standards decided by leaders, is a magnificent field of opportunity for them, especially if the working and middle classes feel aggrieved."

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