Trump Reverses Climate Policies on First Day in Office

President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders on Monday reversing the Biden administration’s policies on climate change and scientific integrity and directing federal agencies to fast-track energy permitting.

In an executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” Trump disbanded the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases and excluded their work up to this point from government policy. Biden established the group via executive order in 2021.

The group produced estimates of the social cost of greenhouse gases, including human health effects, property damage, and disruption of energy systems, for use in cost-benefit policy analyses. Trump’s order also cancels a number of climate change-related strategies and documents, including the National Strategy to Advance an Integrated U.S. Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring, and Information System.

Trump’s order directs agencies to consider eliminating social cost of carbon calculations from all federal permitting and regulatory decisions. “The calculation of the ‘social cost of carbon’ is marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation,” the order reads. “Its abuse arbitrarily slows regulatory decisions and, by rendering the United States economy internationally uncompetitive, encourages a greater human impact on the environment by affording less efficient foreign energy producers a greater share of the global energy and natural resource market.”

The order also asks agencies to reconsider the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding” concerning the harms of greenhouse gas emissions, which underpins its authority to regulate such emissions. Agencies are to report back within 30 days with their recommendations on the “legality and continuing applicability” of the endangerment finding.

Trump also revoked Biden’s 2021 memorandum on scientific integrity, which ordered all federal agencies to establish or update their integrity policies and designate a scientific integrity official, among other actions. Biden’s memorandum was a response to concerns that emerged during the first Trump administration about agency leaders interfering with the scientific conclusions of their staff.

Trump’s order also paused the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that “support the ‘Green New Deal,’” including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through Biden-era programs.

Trump also issued orders to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation and declare an “energy emergency.” The latter cites “high demand for energy and natural resources to power the next generation of technology” as part of the justification for the emergency declaration. Administration officials told reporters that the order is, in part, devoted to the energy needs of developing AI.

The order instructs agency heads to use any lawful emergency authorities to facilitate new energy projects and production on both federal and private lands, with “particular attention” to oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, biofuels, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources.

On the other hand, Trump took steps to limit the growth of wind energy. He withdrew the entire Offshore Continental Shelf from wind energy leasing and paused project approvals. He also directed cabinet members to review federal wind leasing and permitting practices and assess the environmental impact and cost of “defunct and idle” windmills.

Separately, Trump revoked several climate-related executive orders from the Biden administration, including one that established the National Climate Task Force and another that established the State Department’s Climate Change Support Office.

It remains to be seen how quickly Trump’s orders will take effect, as many will require the agencies to issue corresponding rules and may face legal challenges.