On July 1, 2017, President Trump left the Paris Climate Agreement for the first time which resulted in the United States’ position in international climate negotiations. Although former President Biden rejoined the agreement, President Trump pulled out of it once again on the day of his inauguration, Jan. 20, 2025. This puts the United States alongside Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only four countries that are members of the United Nations but not the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Paris Climate Agreement was formed on Dec. 12, 2015, and began to be enforced just under a year later on Nov. 4, 2016. Included in the agreement are frameworks to limit greenhouse gas emissions which are responsible for rising temperatures. The overarching goal of the agreement is to limit the global temperature increase to 2.0℃ above pre-industrial temperatures and eventually return to 1.5℃ by the end of the century.
Leaving this multinational agreement was not the only action that President Trump has taken to limit environmental protections during his term. He is limiting—or fully getting rid of—clean energy initiatives. These initiatives began being present in the U.S. in 2002 under the Bush administration.
President Trump also signed an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency.” The order supports the expansion of oil and gas. It also permits the government to use private land and resources to produce goods deemed necessary by the government. Despite his order being based on a claim of inadequate energy supply, the U.S. is currently the largest producer of oil, according to Gary Dirks, senior director of the Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University.
In the executive order, President Trump has weakened the Endangered Species Act. This act has been an obstacle to the development and drilling of fossil fuels in the United States for decades. The goal of the act is to protect a variety of endangered species including, but not limited to, sea turtles, whales, a few species of salmon (chinook, chum, coho, and sockeye), and many, many more.
He then went on to open up areas that were previously protected by the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. This refuge went under a lengthy litigation process under the Biden administration to approve and restrict certain areas for drilling. This was in the hopes of protecting the rich biodiversity in the Arctic as it is a very fragile ecosystem, according to Peter Schlosser, vice president provost of global futures at Arizona State University.
The next few years are crucial in the climate crisis according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts put together by the United Nations. Surpassing the 1.5℃ temperature margin beyond pre-industrial temperatures makes the difference between having Arctic ice during the summers or not, water scarcity, and the severity of future food shortages, flooding, and heat waves. The influx of gas and oil use in the United States will have a detrimental effect on climate change as these new policies are put into place and carried out.
Summer • Feb 3, 2025 at 9:54 pm
This really shows the severity of his actions, and the direction this country—and the world—is going. Well written.