Trump’s Second Term And Its Whiplash On Climate Action
While Trump, has called climate change a “scam”, has made no secret about his intentions to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement once more
Recent Los Angles fires show human cost of climate-change & global warming. The ‘whiplash’ effect of 2024 being confirmed as the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5°C above its pre-industrial levelis since 1850 on record globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). October to April is normally considered to be the wet season in California, yet this January, the region is experiencing some of the most devastating fires it’s ever seen.
While Trump, has called climate change a “scam”, has made no secret about his intentions to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement once more. Experts believe one of Trump’s first moves after being sworn in on January 20 could be to pull the US out of the landmark global climate agreement and join Yemen, Iran and Libya .Trump will formally be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in an official swearing-in ceremony ) on January 20, 2025.
Which means That the US would not have to report and set targets to cut its greenhouse gas emissions each year. Also it would not have legal responsibilities to provide climate finance for developing countries. Developing countries are struggling to adopt to a warming world and they need huge investments to transition their energy source from Fossil fuels to clean energy-wind, solar, micro hydro etc.
Trump has also attacked the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) and The US seems unlikely to give the $4 billion it owes to the GCF under Trump. It is it is “ clear” that the broader intention is to boost the fossil fuel sector.The Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas (GHG) standards for power plants may get revoked.
On April 25, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced final carbon pollution standards for existing coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These rules were to ensure that all long-term coal-fired plants and base load new gas-fired plants control 90% of their carbon pollution. EPA has evaluated the emissions reductions projects, reductions of 1.38 billion metric tons of CO2 systemwide through 2047 along with tens of thousands of tons of PM2.5, SO2, and NOx – harmful air pollutants that are known to endanger public health.
The writer of this article is Dr. Seema Javed, an environmentalist & a communications professional in the field of climate and energy
