- In his first few days in office, the new US President looks to rip up the Biden Administration’s legislative programme
- Acts relating to Inflation Reduction, Clean Energy, Environmental Justice and EVs are all set to be repealed by Executive Order
- Trump also vows to leave Paris Agreement and ‘drill, baby, drill’
US President Donald Trump has torn up swathes of critical eco-friendly legislation less than 24 hours into his second spell in the White House, threatening the country’s transition to a green economy.
After declaring a ‘national energy emergency’ during his inauguration address, Trump has cut back strategies worth billions of dollars that were designed to help make clean power affordable for households, in a wide-ranging executive order titled ‘Unleashing American Energy’.
Among the now defunct legislation is the Inflation Reduction Act, the so-called EV mandate, and environmental protection for the Arctic, Alaska and US coastal waters.
Trump plans to use the extracted fuel from these areas to revive US manufacturing, stating that the US has ‘the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth’.
Additionally, he has taken the US out of the Paris Agreement, again, an act that potentially threatens the global effort to fight climate change.
What environmental legislation is Trump looking to roll-back?
So, which eco-friendly legislation is President Trump looking to reverse with his flurry of Executive Orders?
Let’s take a look at the main ones below:
The Inflation Reduction Act – Executive Order 14082
This is perhaps the biggest of them all, outgoing President Biden’s $400 billion upgrade of US low-carbon technology infrastructure, signed into law in 2022.
As part of the Act was a goal to cut US carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. To do this, includes grants, loans, tax provisions and incentives to encourage investment in clean energy and a sustainable supply chain.
It also sought to create clean energy infrastructure such as the national grid, renewable technology and domestic manufacturing.
As well as federal money, it also encouraged private sector involvement by offering tax credits for individuals and businesses who invest in renewables – tax credits worth about an estimated $1.2 trillion.
Trump’s decision to repeal now threatens not only federal investment in low-carbon technology but makes the US less attractive for private sector innovation, which in turn could curtail roll out in other countries.
The good news is that former President Biden had already allocated about 4/5ths of the funding set aside in the Inflation Reduction Act for clean energy programmes, which makes it much harder for Trump to claw it back – which programmes they are allocated for is not clear at this time.
However, that leaves approximately $20 billion, which would have been used to fight climate change, almost certainly lost.
Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability – Executive Order 14057
This Act, signed into law in 2021, complemented the Inflation Reduction Act in many ways because it focused on pollution-free electricity and retraining the US workforce to work in a green economy, as well as improve the supply chain of energy.
Among much else, it also sought to reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent from 2008 levels by 2030.
It also covered reducing emissions buildings to net zero by 2045, including a starting with a 50% reduction by 2032, and reducing procurement emissions to net-zero by 2050 and having climate resilient infrastructure and operations.
Trump’s repeal of this law effectively makes it impossible for any of the sustainability legislation in the Inflation Reduction Act to survive, at least that funding which has not yet been allocated to climate programmes.
Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All – executive order 14096
This Act built upon previous to address the effects of climate change on low-income communities, with its focus being on identifying and addressing the “disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority and low-income populations”.
Originally signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 1994, it isn’t clear how this will affect the US’ strategy to fight climate change, which due to repeals of other Acts is now almost redundant.
However, with the US suffering some of its most expensive environmental disasters in almost a century, the repeal will most likely make poorer communities more vulnerable to climate change in the years ahead.
The so-called ‘EV mandate‘
Along with the Inflation Reduction Act, Trump has also cut back the so-called ‘EV mandate’, a term given to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule that made it compulsory for car manufacturers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in new light and medium duty vehicles by 2027.
According to the EPA, these rules would have cut carbon emissions by 7 billion, and potentially added $100 billion to the US economy by the benefits to public health and productivity.
This area raised questions, considering Trump’s close relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk. During his campaign, Trump admitted that his position on EVs had changed as a result of Musk’s financial support, which lends hope to the idea that all might not be lost for electric transportation.
What effect will this have on the planet?
That is of course difficult to answer, as it isn’t certain what other countries will do, but considering the US’ sway on the Western world at least, the planet is unlikely to benefit at all.
The financial world has already begun accommodating some of Trump’s demands for fossil fuel extraction and disregard for cutting carbon emissions.
Shortly before Trump officially became president, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, an international collaborative body focused on getting banks and hedge funds to net zero, was abandoned by major North American financial institutions, including BlackRock.
That came after the Alliance removed being a signatory to the Paris Agreement as a requirement for membership just before the New Year.
What has been the reaction?
The response to Trump’s executive orders has been, unsurprisingly negative.
US-based environmental charity Sierra Club slammed Trump’s decision, saying he was only focused on paying back “the corporate polluter executives for donating to his campaign”.
“If he [Trump] truly wanted to help the American people, he would keep investing in the clean energy solutions that are putting our communities back to work and lowering our utility bills, not deepening our nation’s costly reliance on dirty and expensive fossil fuels,” the group said.
In the UK, the Green Party said Trump’s energy policies “will leave us all open to the growing impacts of the climate crisis from floods, wildfires and of course a devastating loss of nature”.
Continuing, it said Trump had “made clear today his contempt for the severity of the climate crisis and the fate of those whose lives are already been upended by it.
“This represents a severe threat to us all.”
