Trump’s backtracking on climate commitments is a double-edged sword

In her newest blog, our Kateřina Davidová analyzes the impact of the recent climate and environmental decisions of president Donald Trump on the US.

In her newest blog, our Kateřina Davidová analyzes the impact of the recent climate change decisions of president Donald Trump on the US.

The drills are pumping, the oil is flowing, and hundreds of thousands of laborers are swarming around, proudly putting their hands to work, each one representing a perfectly fitting clog in the machine called the United States of America. Nobody is worried about the millions of metric tons of CO2 this activity is generating or the sustainability of this business venture; there is enough oil to last for centuries and the demand for it will always be there, because there is no better alternative. Welcome to the US at the beginning of the 20th century – and Donald Trump’s dreamland!

Alas, the world has changed and it is no longer possible to ignore the negative effects that human industrial production has on global environment and climate. For that reason, laboriously reached joint international agreements such as the one from Paris should be cherished. It is thus without much surprise that the scientific community called Trump’s commencing presidency “a disaster for the planet” when the details of his America First Energy Plan emerged. This official document states that within the first 100 days in office, Trump is “[…] going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs,” even though he has been notably silent on the issue since officially assuming presidency and reports emerged of his key advisers being divided about the “cancellation”.

The full article is available on BlogActiv.eu.

Kateřina Davidová
Senior Research Fellow

Expertise: EU climate and energy policy, environmental protection