On his first day day at the office, President Trump signed a series of executive orders that will put the United States on a radically different environmental path from Biden Administration. The executive orders and memorandum take the first steps toward fulfilling many of Trump's campaign promises: Withdraw the United States from the campaign. Paris Agreementdrilling for more oil and natural gas, and repealing many Biden-era environmental directives and departments.
While Trump's first day of executive orders are far-reaching, it's unclear how they will be implemented or how quickly they will be felt. Executive orders direct government agencies how to enforce laws, but they can be challenged by courts if they appear to violate the U.S. Constitution or other laws, as happened with the executive order prohibiting Trump's entry in January 2017.
Still, Trump's executive orders send a clear signal about his administration's environmental priorities: More fossil fuel extraction, weakening support for green energyand move away from global climate leadership.
Withdraw from the Paris Agreement
This executive order directs the United States Ambassador to United Nations sent official notice of the United States' withdrawal 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 updates every five years on their climate plans to achieve agreed emissions reduction targets.
During his first term, Trump also withdrew the US from the Paris Agreementalthough the terms of the agreement mean that withdrawal does not take place until November 2020. In one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden asked the United States to rejoin the Paris Agreement. It will take at least a year for the US to leave the Agreement.
“This short-sighted move shows a disregard for science and the well-being of people around the world, including Americans, who have been lose their homelivelihoods and loved ones due to climate change,” said Jonathan Foley, chief executive of climate charity Project Drawdown.
The executive order also rescinds the U.S. International Climate Finance Plan—the Biden administration's increase in international climate finance to more than $11 billion per year by 2024. “This is essentially the world's richest countries turn their backs on the poorest countries at a time when they are suffering the most,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the London School of Economics' Grantham Institute on Climate Change and Environment, said.
Encourage fossil fuel exploitation
President Trump dedicated three executive orders to make it easier for the US to exploit its massive fossil fuel reserves. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised to “drill, drill, drill” and on his first day as president, he emphasized this slogan with orders to remove Biden-era regulations and rules The environment limits fossil fuel exploration.
One executive order specifically focuses on Alaska, which has huge fossil fuel reserves and is the site of Willow – a controversial oil and gas project approved by the Government. Biden administration in 2023. Trump's executive order opens the door to other projects, calling on the US to “expedite permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects” in Alaska and roll back any regulations Passage by the Biden administration could hinder this goal. It also specifically rescinds lease cancellations in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revokes the order from the Secretary of the Interior to suspend oil and gas leasing in the Refuge.