Former President Donald Trump dismantled the pillars of US climate policy when he pulled out of the Paris climate accord and repealed more than 100 regulations protecting air, water, endangered species and human health
Trump's influence on environmental policy in the United States and around the world is extensive and significant. On the one hand, he rolled back American environmental policy and inspired populist leaders around the world. On the other hand, he initiated important legislations such as the Great American Open Spaces Act. The 2024 election will be a test of the success of Biden's climate policy and the ability to maintain public support in the fight against climate change. This is according to a comprehensive investigation of a site Inside Climate News.
Former President Donald Trump dismantled the pillars of American climate policy when he pulled out of the Paris climate accord and repealed more than 100 regulations protecting air, water, endangered species and human health.
But it turns out, with his official entry into office as the Republican candidate, it turns out that he changed American environmental protection in even more profound and long-lasting ways.
The US returned to the Paris Agreement after Trump's presidency, but he showed other populist leaders a way out of the global climate accord, which itself is now unstable. While no other country has yet followed suit and left, promises to reduce carbon emissions – already insufficient, according to the scientific consensus – are weakening. Rebellious right-wing politicians in Europe have adopted The Trump Doctrine, and insisted that withdrawing from climate pledges could encourage faltering economies.
President Joe Biden's administration reversed most of his predecessor's regulatory rollbacks, but Trump left behind a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court that has already irreversibly changed US environmental protection. The biggest shock came on June 28, when the court overturned 40 years of legal precedent that supported federal regulatory action. By striking down the so-called "Chevron Doctrine," the court gave a legal edge to those challenging aspects of Biden's climate change agenda.
From Trump's departure from the Paris Agreement to the ongoing effects of his environmental policy changes, his environmental legacy is evident in a variety of areas in the United States and around the world. Trump has not only rolled back US environmental policy, but has also inspired other populist leaders to take similar approaches. At the same time, Trump's appointment of conservative justices to the Supreme Court left a long-term mark on environmental legislation and regulation in the United States.
The withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the opening it gave to other populist leaders
On June 1, 2017, Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, claiming that the agreement imposes a draconian economic burden on the country. Trump relied on a study by an oil and gas industry consulting firm, supported by the US Chamber of Commerce, which estimated that the agreement would cost the United States $3 trillion in gross national product and 2.7 million jobs by 2025, including 440,000 in the manufacturing sector. His withdrawal from the agreement inspired other populist leaders, including former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who also refused to contribute to the Green Climate Fund.
Legislative and Regulatory Effects
The Trump administration has repealed over 100 environmental regulations designed to protect air, water, endangered species and human health. One of his most significant achievements was appointing a 6-3 conservative majority to the Supreme Court. The court, on June 28, 2024, struck down the Chevron doctrine, which gave a legal advantage to those who would challenge Biden's climate agenda. Repealing this doctrine gives an advantage to those who oppose the Biden administration's climate regulations.
A decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, but not for the right reason
During Trump's term, the United States' greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 11 percent, mainly due to the economic slowdown caused by the Corona epidemic. Other pollutants also decreased before the plague: sulfur dioxide decreased by 27 percent; nitrogen oxides, 13 percent; and particles, 8 percent. However, government energy economists attribute the drop in pollution rates to a market-driven decline in coal power plants and improvements in vehicle efficiency that were required before Trump took office.
Trump's regulatory rollbacks have led to lasting impacts on the environment. Abandoning Obama-era climate measures, such as reducing vehicle emissions, could add 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere by 2035.
The Great American Open Spaces Act
One of Trump's significant achievements in the environmental field was the signing of the Great American Open Spaces Act of 2020, which provides up to $2.8 billion annually for public spaces, outdoor recreation, maintenance and restoration, and new green spaces. The law was welcomed by public lands advocates and is intended to address a huge maintenance backlog in national parks and forests.
Export of populism
Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement has brought global awareness that this agreement will not neutralize American climate policy. Other countries, including Russia and Australia, followed suit and refused to contribute to the Green Climate Fund. The lack of international support hinders the ability to finance essential projects to deal with climate change.
In Europe, far-right movements have embraced the Trump Doctrine, arguing that climate commitments are an economic burden. Last month, EU countries weakened their nature restoration law following political pressure from the farming industry and protesting farmers. Far-right parties in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France called for getting rid of climate commitments in recent elections, expanding their presence in parliaments.
The future of environmental policy
The 2024 election will be a referendum on the success of Biden's climate policy that will likely continue even if another candidate from the Democratic Party is elected. Biden's anti-inflation law, and an unprecedented $370 billion investment in clean energy, have spurred hundreds of projects across the country that are expected to create more than 108,000 new jobs. Despite this, Trump claims that Biden's climate policy will cause an economic "bloodbath".
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Comments
Jonathan:
1. Poor populations will not pollute less if they receive money - probably even more, because the more modern a population is, the more it pollutes. They will pollute less - if they reproduce less: the natural reproduction in parts of Africa is the highest in the world.
2. I don't think that Trump will do better, because it doesn't depend much on the administration - so it's a shame about populism
3. Today, China is building twice as much green energy as the rest of the world
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-china-solar-capacity-rest-world.html
And you will probably be ahead of us in zeroing carbon emissions.
4. I didn't understand the context, and I'm not sure you know how to isolate what causes inflation, but people are already dying of heat today - not in another 100 years! And the quality of life of many others is severely affected.
5. Do you know a practical scientific solution to the climate crisis today?
Until it is, major disasters may happen because of it (the Gulf Stream?). It is not for nothing that the issue is one of 10 that the UN defined as threatening humanity
Inflation was caused by the Corona crisis. People got money without working and the capitalists took advantage of the fact that there was an abundance of money and raised prices pig-wise.
And how exactly will $12 per person improve the third world?
And the climate crisis has another important feature. He also hurts those who do not believe in him.
1. With 307 billion dollars they could do a lot for the third world population who pollute because of the poverty they suffer from.
2. 108 thousand jobs for a population of hundreds of millions is a bad joke.
3. Even if the United States has 0 carbon emissions, China and India will make up the shortfall in polluting industry.
4. The inflation caused by the moves to reduce emissions are starving to death today at the expense of the worry that in another 100 years people will die, absurd in essence.
5. The great scientists have already several times updated the number of years that the food will not be enough for the growing population of the earth, but each time solutions were found, just like that with the climate crisis.
Instead of starving people to death today they will invest in tomorrow's solutions.
In this case and how does it belong here, the field of the environment is a completely scientific field, only that it is under attack by interests who use Trump to make us all extinct, so what good will the billions they are currently making from spreading doubts? They too will be extinct.
that some and Berta already agree with you.. and it's your website that from time to time you can't help but throw your hand into politics that doesn't belong here, a serious conversation about the global climate will happen but when half of America (Trump) thinks the opposite and even in Israel they are not enthusiastic maybe it's because of the approach or appropriation of the climate crisis to the side A certain politician is the problem?!..