Trump’s Day One Executive Orders Will Worsen Climate Crisis

on his first day in the office, President Trump A number of executive orders have been signed that will set the United States on a radically different environmental path The Biden administration. The executive order and memorandum take the first step toward fulfilling many of Trump’s promises from the campaign trail: Withdrawing from the U.S. The Paris AgreementDrilling for more oil and natural gas and repealing multiple Biden-era environmental directives and departments.

Although Trump’s first day’s executive orders are far-reaching, it is not yet clear how they will be implemented or how quickly they will be felt. Executive orders direct government agencies how to implement the law, but they can be challenged in court if they appear to violate the U.S. Constitution or other laws, as was the case with Trump’s January 2017 travel ban executive order.

However, Trump’s executive orders send a clear signal about his administration’s environmental priorities: more fossil fuel extraction, weakening support for green energyand a shift away from global climate leadership.

Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement

The executive order directed the US ambassador to United Nations To submit formal notification that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016, commits countries to submit five-yearly updates on their plans to reduce greenhouse emissions and reach agreed climate targets for emissions reductions.

In his first term, Trump also withdrew the United States from the Paris AgreementHowever the terms of the agreement meant that the withdrawal did not take place until November 2020. In one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden rejoined the United States in the Paris Agreement. It will take at least a year for the US to withdraw from the agreement.

“This short-sighted move shows contempt for science and the well-being of people around the world, including Americans, who already Losing their homeslivelihoods, and loved ones as a result of climate change,” said Jonathan Foley, executive director of climate charity Project Drawdown.

The executive order also revokes the US International Climate Finance Plan — a Biden administration increase in international climate finance that reached $11 billion a year by 2024. suffer the most,” said Bob Ward, director of policy at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change at the London School of Economics. the environment

Encouraging the phasing out of fossil fuels

President Trump has dedicated three executive orders to making it easier to use the United States’ vast fossil fuel reserves. Trump consistently promised to “drill, baby, drill” on the campaign trail, and on his first day as president he reinforced the slogan by ordering the removal of Biden-era regulations and environmental rules that restricted fossil fuel exploration.

One executive order specifically focused on Alaska, which has vast fossil fuel reserves and was the location of Willow – a controversial oil and gas project. Biden administration in 2023. Trump’s executive order opens the door for other projects, calling on the United States to “accelerate the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects” in Alaska and to roll back any regulations passed by the Biden administration that could hinder that goal. It also specifically revokes lease cancellations within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and rescinds an order from the interior secretary that temporarily halted oil and gas leasing in the refuge.