Trump’s Day One Executive Orders Will Make the Climate Crisis Worse

His first day at the office President Trump He signed a series of executive orders that would set the US on a radically different environmental path than before. The Biden administration. The executive orders and memos take the first steps to fulfill many of Trump’s campaign promises: Getting the US out of the war The Paris Agreementdrilling for more oil and natural gas and repealing many Biden-era environmental directives and departments.

While Trump’s first day’s executive orders are far-reaching, it is not yet clear how they will be implemented or how soon they will be felt. Executive orders direct government agencies how to implement the law, but they can be challenged by courts if they violate the US Constitution or other laws, as with Trump’s January 2017 travel ban order.

Still, Trump’s orders send a clear signal about his administration’s environmental priorities: Producing more fossil fuels, green energyand moving away from global climate leadership.

Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement

This order instructs the US Ambassador United Nations Submit formal notification of US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016, commits countries to reduce greenhouse emissions and submit five-yearly updates on climate plans to meet agreed emission reduction goals.

In the first term Trump also withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreementalthough the terms of the deal meant that the withdrawal would not take place until November 2020. In one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden pushed the United States to rejoin the Paris Agreement. It will take at least a year for the US to leave the Treaty.

“This short-sighted move shows a disregard for science and the well-being of people around the world, including Americans. they lose their homeslivelihoods and loved ones as a result of climate change,” says Jonathan Foley, Executive Director of The Climate Charity Project.

The executive order also rescinds the US International Climate Finance Plan – the Biden administration’s plan to increase international climate finance to $11 billion a year by 2024. says Bob Ward, director of policy at the London School of Economics’ Grantham Institute for Climate Change Research. Environment.

Promotes Fossil Fuel Divestment

President Trump has issued three executive orders to make it easier for the United States to exploit its vast fossil fuel reserves. On the campaign trail, Trump consistently promised to “drill, baby, drill,” and on his first day as president he punctuated that slogan with orders to roll back Biden-era regulations and environmental regulations restricting fossil fuel exploration.

One executive order specifically targeted Alaska, which has large fossil fuel reserves and a controversial oil and gas project endorsed by Willow. Biden administration in 2023. Trump’s order opens the door for other projects, calling on the US to “accelerate the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects” in Alaska and to repeal any regulations imposed by the Biden administration that could impede that goal. It also specifically rescinds the cancellation of leases within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and withdraws the Interior Secretary’s order that temporarily suspended oil and gas leasing in the Refuge.