As the supposed ‘erratic’ leader, Donald Trump makes a stunning comeback as the President of the United States of America, the country is all set to witness new policy infusions that can change the course of how Americans live. From policies on abortion, and climate action to perspective on global conflicts, the Trump government is set to bring about huge changes.
It now has become imperative to discuss how Donald Trump views climate change, and what this regime has in store for the environment. Regardless of whatever the changes are, the whole of America is divided on climate actions even after the elections.
Trump’s Outlook on Climate
The surprising news of Trump winning the elections has come as a huge disappointment to many who dedicated their entire career into galvanizing international climate actions. Climate activists are now mourning Trump’s coming to power in the world’s most influential and richest nation. His election falls ahead of a global climate change conference, starting in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday.
Donald Trump, on different occasions, has described climate change as an ‘expensive hoax’ or a ‘nonsense’. He went further to suggest that climate change has been ‘created by and for the Chinese’. Standing by what he said, Trump also announced moving out of the Paris Agreement in 2020. The Paris accord is a global agreement on climate change mitigation signed by 196 parties in 2016.
Donald Trump has also been severely critical of the ex-president Joe Biden’s policies on energy and climate. Many of the policies he criticizes have been manifested through the incentives provided for clean energy in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Standing diametrically opposite to the IRA, Trump has promised to clear investments on fossil fuel projects, withdraw special incentives for electric vehicles and undo emission regulations that hinder electricity production. If Trump plans to keep all of his promises, it would jeopardize the emission reduction targets of the United States for 2030. The target is to reduce carbon emission levels to 50 to 52 percent, over the 2005 levels. This in itself is a very modest target set by the world’s biggest historical producer of greenhouse gasses.
The fear now is that Trump’s policy will push development in climate change mitigation backwards, not only for the US but also for the rest of the world. This comes as the world has slowly started to invest in renewable and traditional sources of energy. As a result, solar energy has emerged as one of the cheapest options available in many countries of the world. The International Energy Agency or the IEA said that global spendings on clean energy technology is expected to rise to US dollar 2 trillion in 2024. Likewise, electric cars now account for about 18% of all cars sold globally in 2023. So it can be safely inferred that the world is pushing towards a cleaner climate after persistent galvanisation from climate activists and environmental academia. But with Trump being elected as a new president, Americans can now freely go on drilling more oil wells and gas fields for energy.
Tussle With China
Donald Trump’s main objective behind opposing electric vehicles is that a large part of manufacturing in clean energy is happening in China. The Southeast Asian country offers a low cost advantage which the United States cannot match currently. And so, by digging up oil wells and gas fields, local jobs will be created within the nation. But this economic war with an emerging superpower can cost the United States and the rest of the world an inhabitable climate.
The unique amount of power that the United States holds over international financial institutions and global financial flows makes it important for the country to take up steps towards climate change mitigation. While many fear that the new Trump regime will push all the progress brought about in two decades to fight climate change backwards, many with a nationalist view feel that this can better their country. The debate over climate has also become a debate between progress of a single country versus a cooperative progress of all countries.
There is not everything wrong in propelling local employment and reducing dependence on foreign countries for manufacturing. Because of the cheap labor and large land resources, China has equal chances of exploiting both the factors to rule over global markets. Especially for India, China’s financial power can extend into border conflicts and inflation. But what cannot be left out of the argument is that climate change is a trans-border problem and requires superpowers like the US to hold leadership. For many Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam, Laos and India, climate change will have a more fearful face.
