New Delhi: The first day of US President Donald Trump’s second term was marked by some important but controversial environmental and climate-related announcements, including announcing a ‘national energy emergency’ to open up more areas to oil and gas exploration and end the electric vehicle mandate. Environmentalists and strategy experts say that while these decisions were expected, such moves from the US government will likely derail global sustainability goals and undo progress in achieving climate targets.
“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency,” Trump said in his inaugural speech, stressing his campaign promise, “We will drill, baby, drill”.
Environmentalists across the world have expressed concern over such “rash” decisions by the US.
Alexandra Scott, senior expert (climate diplomacy) at ECCO, an Italian climate change think tank, said that the climate crisis was bigger than any one national or political ideology.
“There are two major differences to the last time a Trump administration chose a different path to the rest of the world building economic opportunity and resilience through serious climate action and global cooperation,” Scott said.
Elaborating on his comment, he said that one of the differences was that in the current times, the scale of destruction that the climate crisis is bringing across the world is much larger and deadlier—for instance, the recent LA fires.
The other was the scale of economic opportunity in the clean energy and clean tech markets, which should encourage governments to invest in these areas instead of adopting old and more polluting methods.
“The promises Trump has made cannot be delivered without acting to prevent climate impacts and embrace the new economy,” Scott said.
ThePrint explains what these decisions mean and how these announcements are expected to impact the global environment and energy policies in the coming months.
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Energy emergency declaration
Through the course of his election campaigns, Trump and the Congressional Republicans have been stressing establishing an “energy dominance”, promising an executive order declaring an ‘energy emergency” aimed at opening up more areas to oil and gas exploration.
In addition to this, Trump also pledged to expand the federal lands open to drilling rigs, including opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Under the presidency of the outgoing Joe Biden, the US—which is already the largest oil and gas producer in the world—hit new oil production highs. In the final weeks of his presidency, Biden announced a ban on future offshore oil and gas drilling along a large part of the US coastal waters, stating that the environmental and economic risks from offshore drilling outweighed its benefits.
During his campaign, Trump said he would revoke this ban on his first day of office.
While Trump has stood steadfast to his political promise, energy experts say the final implementation will be legally challenging as it would require Congress to act.
Mike Coffin, head of oil, gas and mining research at Carbon Tracker, a London-based not-for-profit thinktank researching the impacts of climate change on financial markets, said that the incoming President may face more of a challenge delivering on his promises to the oil and gas billionaires than expected.
“While oil and gas execs undoubtedly want policies that support demand, they will be very keen to avoid putting downward pressure on prices and thus profitability. And this is especially so for oil, which as a global market is exposed to European and Chinese actions to reduce transport fuel consumption,” Coffin said.
EV incentives
EV mandates also bore the wrath of the Trump administration. The President, who has been opposing clean energy and EV subsidies, has repeatedly called the consumer tax credits for electric vehicles wasteful.
In his campaign speeches, Trump vowed to reverse the Biden-era programme and end other incentives for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing, charging infrastructure and emissions regulations.
This stand has met with opposition from the car manufacturers.
In an 11 January report, The New York Times said, “Automakers have strong financial interest in promoting electric vehicles no matter who is in the White House.”
“No matter what policy changes are brought forward by the new administration, we will abide by them and will adjust accordingly,” the NYT report quoted Randy Parker, chief executive of Hyundai Motor America.
EV sales data shows that sales continue to grow across the US. Global EV sales grew by 25 percent in 2024, with over 17 million EVs sold globally.
The Chinese market grew by 40 percent, but the US and Canada grew by close to 10 percent last year. According to Rho Motion data, an auto industry tracker, in 2024 alone, around 12,000 new, high-voltage EV chargers were added in the US to incentivise more EV purchases.
“Cancelled green projects in the United States mean that other countries can invest and seize the investment opportunity to meet demand for clean technologies. China will be happy to wave in the rearview mirror of one of its world-leading EVs as US manufacturers hobble on,” said Tim Sahay, co-director of the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab at US’s Johns Hopkins University.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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