I cover climate politics.
Some of Donald Trump’s first steps on climate change when he enters the White House will send a message that the federal government no longer cares about the issue. He will pull out of the Paris Agreement. Allies say he’ll strip the phrases “climate change,” “clean energy” and “environmental justice” from every agency website.
But the most significant policy moves will come later. They include repealing pollution limits on automobiles, power plants and factories. Agencies will give oil and gas companies easier access to federal lands for drilling. And Trump will work with a Republican-controlled Congress to repeal as much as possible of President Biden’s signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act.
The result of all this: The United States will emit more greenhouse gases.
The Morning is running a series on the policies Trump and his congressional allies may implement next year. In today’s installment, I’ll walk through their climate agenda.
Undoing regulations
Trump’s victory will bring changes to almost every aspect of environmental policy.
Biden accepts the established science that the burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet. He tried to do a lot about it. To reduce demand for those fuels, he signed a law to pump billions of dollars into clean energy. He also forced power plant owners, automobile manufacturers and operators of oil and gas wells to keep carbon dioxide emissions down.
Trump mocks all of that. “You know, they used to call it, remember, global warming. But then that didn’t work. Had many different names,” he said in a 2022 speech. “Now their great name is climate change.”