Donald Trump’s stunning victory means an immediate restructuring of climate battle lines — and an inevitable weakening of federal and global efforts to beat back the worst of global warming. Once again, progressive states — likely piloted by California — will be pushed to lead the charge to combat climate collapse, racing against not only the clock, but also Trump’s promised unraveling of federal energy and pollution policies. The president-elect has pledged to again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, to claw back all the unspent billions of dollars from Democrats’ landmark climate law, to gut environmental agencies and their regulations, and to push to expand the nation’s already record-setting oil and gas production. On the global stage, if Trump has his way, the United States will no longer be the country investing billions in clean energy technology and manufacturing. Rather, it could become a major obstacle to slowing climate change quickly enough to avoid mass ecosystem collapse and other irreversible disasters. Resistance to Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda could be bolstered by a few factors: the general operational dysfunction that plagued his first administration; growing determination from GOP-led states to preserve green tax credits in President Joe Biden’s climate law; aggressive legal action from Democratic attorneys general; and the usual slow pace of government when it comes to unwinding or rewriting environmental regulations. Still, Trump — armed with experience now about wielding the levers of government — will have the power to unravel considerable portions of the last four years of climate policy gains. And he has until January 2029 to do it. Newsom suits up
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newson’s administration has spent months working to “Trump-proof” the state’s climate policies and secure its disaster preparedness — a reversal of 2016, when Trump’s surprising victory left state leaders scrambling, writes Melanie Mason. The incoming Trump administration is “not going to wait to wind up,” Newsom told POLITICO reporters . “It's ready, fire, aim — not ready, aim, fire.” Protecting many of the state’s policy priorities will require fending off new federal intervention. Trump has promised mass deportations that could upend the state’s agriculture industry. His administration is prepared to bombard California’s pollution reduction efforts with lawsuits and strip away federal funds from key state climate initiatives. He’s also vowed to strip the federal waiver that allows California to set its own vehicle emissions rules, something he tried to do in his first administration. Noncompliance with Trump’s wishes could trigger retribution. During his first term, Trump delayed aid to California after wildfires amid disputes with Newsom. Trump has already threatened to withhold aid again if the state bucks him on water policy. Europe’s in charge now
Climate diplomats and top-ranking activists initially struggled to project calm this morning about Trump 2.0, issuing statements that attempted to calm nervous clean technology markets and present the energy transition as unthwartable, write Karl Mathiesen, Sara Schonhardt and Zia Weise. Trump’s victory puts the responsibility of pushing the world forward on climate efforts largely onto European countries. That means engagement with China, the world’s largest carbon polluter, now falls to them.
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