By Anh Thu Truong
As a full quarter has passed into the twenty-first century, our world looks vastly different than it did fifty years ago. This century has seen rapid industrialization like no other, and the growth of technology, the Internet and artificial intelligence has nearly reshaped every aspect of modern life.
In parallel, the climate crisis, accelerated by the development of industrial technology, has been rapidly worsening — the warming of oceans and the rise in sea levels, backed by increasingly intensifying, catastrophic natural disasters occurring all throughout the U.S.
On January 20, Donald Trump was inaugurated into office for his second term after winning a historical election against former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The same day of the inauguration, the White House declared a “National Energy Emergency” which became an executive order to correct the nation’s “inadequate energy supply” and the start of many actions planned to reverse the advances made by past administrations on climate change policies.
Paris Agreement
In his first term, President Trump officially withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, fulfilling a key promise to his campaign that aimed to prioritize American economic interests over environmental protections.
The international agreement is part of a global effort from 195 countries around the world to prevent temperatures from rising past 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050. Leaders are required to submit their national climate action plans every five years, outlining their actions to tackle the increasing greenhouse gas emissions in their respective countries.
The agreement additionally encouraged financing to developing countries to be better equipped for the fight against these climate consequences, calling on the commitment and cooperation of all countries involved to reduce emissions driving climate change.
Yet, many proponents against U.S. involvement in the Paris Agreement have taken an economic approach to climate change, including Trump. They argue that its costly investment is a waste of taxpayer money, with the loss of millions of jobs in traditional energy sectors putting a strain on workers and industries.
“The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers…” Trump said during a televised announcement at the White House Rose Garden in 2017. “And taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.”
Yet after Biden took office, he took the United States on a more aggressive and progressive approach to the climate issue. The U.S. quickly rejoined the Paris Climate Accord in 2021, and Biden began a climate campaign focused on reducing carbon emissions and investing in renewable energy.
“The Paris Agreement is an unprecedented framework for global action … Its purpose is both simple and expansive: to help us all avoid catastrophic planetary warming and to build resilience around the world to the impacts from climate change we already see,” former Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference regarding the U.S rejoining.
However, while maintaining the same values as he did during his first term, Trump signed an executive order announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement a day after his inauguration. Once again, it marks a stark turning point in American climate leadership, retreating from the international stage of global cooperation to isolationism.
Inflation Reduction Act
One of Biden’s hallmark efforts in environmental regulation was the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed in 2022.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes a bundle of investments that aim to mitigate the federal government budget deficit, but it’s also regarded as the largest investment in American history to curb the climate crisis. Along with spurring the growth of hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country to support a clean-energy industry, it allocates billions of dollars in funding to implement projects that are actively pushing to suppress pollutants and promote sustainable energy.
For instance, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports more than $350 million was invested in grants, tools and technology to aid manufacturers and builders in cutting back their greenhouse gas emissions — which is especially prevalent in the construction process where steel, concrete or asphalt contain many carbon-intensive materials.
However, the Trump administration has been eminent in rolling back the IRA due to its costly investments and rise in energy costs. While a complete repeal of the IRA would be unlikely due to relative bipartisan support in Congress, the administration intends to cut much of its spending, including Biden’s energy and climate policies, to be able to fulfill its goals of propelling a fossil-fuel-focused industry.
“Some of the price tags involved with some of these credits [of the IRA] seem to be wildly understated. We’d be looking to cut a lot of that spending,” a Trump campaign official said to the Financial Times.
In the past, Trump famously proclaimed climate change to be a “hoax” and has instead relied on his policies that boast oil drilling and coal production, dependent on his campaign slogan, “Drill, Baby, Drill.” These energy policies aim to boost the economy through manufacturing, mining coal and drilling oil, in order to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
“America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have — the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth — and we are going to use it,” Trump said during his inaugural address.
“We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”
The U.S. trails closely behind China in being the world’s largest greenhouse emitters, and Trump’s return to office has caused many environmentalists to be deeply concerned about the United States’ role in the trajectory of global warming.
Climate change activists say the next four years are going to be crucial in developing a response against the crisis, which is only a matter of time before the consequences become unavoidable.
However, the Trump administration remains focused on expanding America’s energy outputs and emphasizing its energy independence for economic growth.
As climate change continues to be a pressing issue our modern world faces, it’s a problem that continues to be pushed and pulled— facing ramifications throughout each passing administration. America’s involvement with climate change will continue to be molded by our country’s leadership, environmental policies, economic priorities and the pressures of our warming world.
