CNN
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President Donald Trump will sign executive actions Monday that cement his intention to double down on fossil fuels and reverse America’s progress on climate change and clean energy, including his pledge to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.
Trump’s day-one actions come as climate change-fueled fires ravage Southern California, following the globe’s hottest year on record during which two major hurricanes – Helene and Milton – devastated the Southeast.
In his inauguration speech, Trump said he will declare a “national energy emergency,” though United States is producing more oil now than any other country at any other time. He intends to streamline permitting and review regulations that “impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals,” according to a list of priorities from Trump’s press office.
He also intends to take action to end land and water leasing for wind energy, and undo the Biden administration’s actions that promote electric vehicles.
Trump views energy prices as central to his mission to address widespread frustrations with the cost of living. He has argued that slashing red tape will help drive down energy prices and fight overall inflation.
“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices,” Trump said during his inaugural address. “That’s why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”
Earlier this month, scientists declared the planet for the first time breached 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming last year — a significant benchmark that experts researching Earth’s tipping points have warned humanity to avoid, and the goal world leaders aspired to when they signed the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Beyond 1.5 degrees, the human-caused climate crisis — fueled by heat-trapping fossil fuel pollution — starts to exceed the ability of humanity and the natural world to adapt.
The rollercoaster of US participation in international climate talks could itself be harmful, said David Wirth, a professor at Boston College Law School and public international law expert.
“The integrity of the United States’ commitment to this issue would be drawn into question, also (its) reliability as a treaty partner,” Wirth told CNN.
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CNN
Trump has vowed to reverse Biden’s order to ban offshore oil drilling in 625 million acres of