During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s position on climate change was clear: He didn’t want the US to do anything about it. Instead, he took the right-wing line that efforts to fight climate change, like the 2015 Paris accord, were too hard on business interests. The logic being, basically, that we shouldn’t worry about the potentially disastrous consequences of a warmer, wetter planet because maybe all those scientists are wrong, and anyway, even if they’re right, is it really worth paying more for things?
Trump’s actions since he entered office shows that his view on climate change hasn’t shifted. In March, he ordered a review of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), an Obama-era regulation that limited the amount of greenhouse gases that power plants could spew. (The CPP was blocked by the Supreme Court from going into effect but would still be legally complicated to undo.) The White House also ordered the removal of references to climate change from the EPA website.
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More recently, Trump removed several scientists from a review board at the EPA and nominated CPP foes to a federal energy commission. The administration’s proposed budget for 2018 included deep cuts to the EPA, reflecting the intensity of Trump’s broader anti-environmentalism, as do the executive orders that could make it easier for energy companies to drill, mine, and exploit federally protected lands.
Yet Trump still hasn’t moved to formally exit the Paris Agreement, a pledge signed by more than 100 countries to fight climate change by reducing carbon emissions. What’s going on?
On Tuesday, a planned meeting about the Paris Agreement was canceled, reportedly at the request of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Such a meeting is needed because the administration is at odds with itself over Paris after Trump signaled he’s not sure what he wants to do about the agreement. EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and White House adviser Steve Bannon are on the anti-Paris team; Tillerson, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and first daughter Ivanka Trump all want the US to stay in the agreement. (Ivanka and Pruitt may still meet separately.)
Tillerson, of course, is the former CEO of ExxonMobil, and Perry, the former Texas governor, was a climate change denier until recently. The fact that they are apparently fighting against even more aggressive anti-environmental White House voices shows just how far to the right this administration has gone. Though public opinion on climate change is divided (at least partly because a lot of people don’t seem to grasp the scientific consensus around it), most Americans are concerned about climate change and think scientists should have a role in climate policy.
As should be obvious by now, the Trump administration isn’t concerned about climate change and doesn’t give a shit about climate science. Though Ivanka’s much-ballyhooed more moderate stance on climate may be a good sign, it’s downright bizarre that a businesswoman with zero diplomatic or scientific experience is now helping shape climate policy.
Even if the US remains in the Paris Agreement, Trump can simply ignore the emissions goals it set. According to the Wall Street Journal, some administration officials think that could lead to lawsuits against the US, but that’s far from clear. But if Trump does withdraw from the accord, it will be a signal that the most extreme faction in an extreme administration is winning.
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