Climate action, Trump's favorite target
Natalia Arriaga
Madrid, Apr 26 (EFE) - From withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, signed on the day he took office, to signing an order this Thursday to boost the exploitation of the seabed, Donald Trump has made climate action one of the favorite targets of the first 100 days of his second presidency.
The image of the leader surrounded by miners while signing orders to boost the coal sector perfectly illustrates the president's line on environmental issues: promoting fossil fuels and cutting resources intended to mitigate climate change.
Trump wasted no time making his intentions clear. "We're going to drill, drill, drill," he declared in his inaugural address, in which he also promised to eliminate electric vehicle subsidies and declare a national energy emergency.
Goodbye to ParisHours after taking office, Trump made good on his threat to withdraw from the key climate treaty, arguing that it limited U.S. development and sovereignty.
The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will not take effect until early 2026, the UN has specified.
Under the agreements still in force, the country had a climate adaptation financing target of $300 billion by 2035, agreed upon at COP29 in Baku last November.
At the same event where he bid farewell to Paris, Trump declared the long-anticipated energy emergency, which allows him to boost oil and gas production with new drilling in Alaska. This state, he said, possesses a "largely untapped" supply of natural resources.
Minerals and rare earths
New executive orders focused on expanding the mining industry, boosting coal, and producing critical minerals.
Trump referred to coal as "clean and beautiful" at the symbolic scene of miners at the White House, where about 20 of them, wearing hard hats and uniforms, applauded measures to prevent plant closures and allow companies access to federal lands.
In addition, Energy Secretary Chris Wright will assess whether coal used in steel production can be considered a critical mineral, a label that groups essential materials in the manufacture of high-tech and clean technology products. Trump wants to include coal on that list, which the EU and other countries that do not classify it as a scarce or essential resource do not.
Critical minerals are also targeted by the recent order to boost seabed exploitation, as are rare earths, a key sector in which China has almost complete dominance.
More acres for oil and gas, less subsidy for electric carsTrump orders a boost to seafloor mining for critical minerals
Other fossil fuels, oil and gas, have gained ground with drilling authorization on 625 million federal acres.
Up to 31 hydrocarbon and energy regulations, such as the requirement to report gas emissions, will be reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for amendments or outright elimination.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin eschewed any euphemisms: "We are stabbing the religion of climate change in the heart."
All of this did not prevent Trump from boasting on April 22, Earth Day, about promoting environmental policies and providing his citizens with the "cleanest air and water in the world for generations."
Aid for electric vehicles has also been in the government's sights, as demonstrated by the freezing of the NEVI program, which provided 5 billion euros to finance charging stations.
These points will be closed in government offices when the current contracts expire.
Impact on businesses, UN warning
Trump didn't even have to take office before the six largest US banks left the Zero Emissions Banking Alliance (NZBA), a group committed to carbon neutrality promoted by the United Nations. The asset manager BlackRock also left NZAM, a similar coalition, which subsequently announced the suspension of its activities.
But UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been firm in emphasizing that "no group or government can stop the green energy revolution" and adding that renewables "offer the surest path to energy sovereignty and security."
"It's killing us"
Trump's barrage of measures has drawn angry criticism from environmental policy advocates, including well-known activists like actress Jane Fonda, who said of Trump: "He's killing us (...). He's on the side of death." EFE
300 politicians from both parties in the US call for public lands
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