on its first day at the office, President Trump has signed several executive orders that will set the United States on a fundamentally different environmental path Biden administrationThe executive order and memorandum take the first steps toward fulfilling one of Trump's many campaign promises: separating the U.S. from paris agreementMore oil and natural gas drilling, and repeal of many Biden-era environmental directives and departments.
Although Trump's executive orders from Day One are far-reaching, it is not yet clear how they will be implemented or how quickly they will be realized. Executive orders direct government agencies on how to enforce laws, but they can be challenged by courts if they appear to violate the U.S. Constitution or other laws, as with Trump's travel ban in January 2017. Happened with executive order.
However, Trump's executive orders send a clear signal about his administration's environmental priorities: extracting more fossil fuels, weakening support green energyAnd moving away from global climate leadership.
Withdrawal from Paris Agreement
This executive order directs the U.S. Ambassador united nations To submit formal notification that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement, signed in 2016, commits countries to reduce greenhouse emissions and submit five-yearly updates on their climate plans to reach agreed targets on reducing emissions.
In his first term, Trump also withdrew America from Paris AgreementHowever the terms of the agreement meant that the return would not take place until November 2020. In one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden rejoined the US into the Paris Agreement. It will take at least a year for America to leave this agreement.
“This short-sighted move reflects a disregard for science and the well-being of people around the world, including Americans, who are already losing your home“Climate change has consequences for livelihoods, and for loved ones,” says Jonathan Foley, executive director of climate charity Project Drawdown.
The executive order also cancels the US International Climate Finance Plan – the Biden administration's increase in international climate finance that reached more than $11 billion per year by 2024. “Essentially this is the richest country in the world turning its back on the poorest countries at a time when they stand to lose the most,” says Bob Ward, policy director at the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment. Are suffering.
Encouraging fossil fuel extraction
President Trump dedicated three executive orders to making it easier for the US to exploit its vast fossil fuel reserves. Trump consistently promised “drill, baby, drill” during the campaign, and in his first day as president he underlined this slogan with orders to dismantle Biden-era regulations and environmental regulations that prevent fossil fuel exploration. Let's ban.
One executive order specifically focused on Alaska, which has vast fossil fuel reserves and was the location for Willow – a controversial oil and gas project that was approved by the government. Biden administration in 2023Trump's executive order opens the door to other projects, calling on the US to “expedite the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects” in Alaska and repeal any regulations passed by the Biden administration that would allow for this purpose. Can become a hindrance. It specifically rescinds the cancellation of leases within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and reverses an order by the Secretary of the Interior that temporarily halted oil and gas leasing in the Refuge.