Donald Trump and his MAGA colleagues have decided to do more than abandon America’s fight against climate change, more than formalize climate denial as the official policy of the United States government. They have gone over to the other side. The U.S. is actively taking measures to promote the burning of greenhouse gasses, to in effect support global warming.
Their efforts are legion. Most recently the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved to repeal the “endangerment finding,” a declaration that determined greenhouse gas concentrations “endanger both the public health and the public welfare of current and future generations.” Trump’s new EPA commissioner, Lee Zeldin, boasted that if the repeal is finalized it would be “the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.” It would also gut the legal foundation for many of the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions regulations, the keystone of U.S. climate policies.
While the administration is attempting to eliminate climate policies, it is actively boosting fossil fuel production. The president has issued an executive order allowing energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters, including on the outer continental shelf. The order also revokes a host of regulations seen as hindering fossil fuel production. The social cost of carbon is no longer to be considered in federal or regulatory decisions and the Green New Deal was terminated.
While oversight of fossil fuels production is reduced, oversight of renewables is increased. All solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters must now be personally approved by Trump’s Interior Secretary. Credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy sources are being phased out while support for fossil fuels is enhanced.
Environmental science is a major target. Both government and university-based research is being defunded. The administration has instructed NASA to abandon satellites that gather information on planet-warming pollution and other climate vital signs, and it plans to close Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory, the world’s most important recorder of atmospheric CO2 levels. The loss of the observatory could seriously affect our understanding of how climate is changing, how fast, and where.
And the war goes international. Trump intends to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. He has threatened to retaliate against any members of the International Maritime Organization that support the net zero emissions plan the group agreed on earlier this year, even though many large shipping companies and several industry groups support it. The U.S. has cancelled its contribution to the UN Green Climate Fund, which supports adaptation to climate change in developing countries.
An analogy to Trump America’s collaboration with global warming might be if the U.S. in 1939 declared it would enter the looming world war … on the side of the Nazis.
Not all of America is in denial. Many cities, states and businesses remain committed to the good fight. Indeed, A coalition of U.S. cities and states have banded together to form the United States Climate Alliance to continue upholding the objectives of the Paris agreement. The Alliance represents 55 percent of the U.S. population and over 60 percent of U.S. GDP.
Where, then, does Canada stand? As our record wildfire summer drives home the fact of the crisis yet again, we might expect our political parties to have bold policies on global warming.
That would, however, be expecting too much from the Conservatives. They aren’t Trumpian, but they are climate slackers nonetheless. They seem to have no meaningful plan to address global warming, seeming far more interested, à la Trump, of promoting fossil fuels. The party’s unelected leader now talks about a Canadian Sovereignty Act that would “legalize” pipeline projects, whatever that means. The act, shades of Danielle Smith’s infamous Alberta version, appears to complement other Conservative policies including allowing oil tankers on B.C.’s north coast, scrapping the planned emissions cap for the oil and gas sector, ending the single-use plastics ban, killing the industrial carbon tax and ending the impending mandate for electric vehicle sales.
Fortunately our climate change future isn’t in Conservative hands. We must rely on Mark Carney and his Liberals. The PM was well known for his climate credentials in the international financial world, but his commitment to keeping the country on track with its climate targets is less clear. The Liberals have a respectable plan for reducing emissions but they, too, are talking big projects including pipelines.
Canada has just five years to meet its 2030 climate target: a 40 percent reduction in emissions below 2005 levels, legally mandated under the Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. Simon Donner, co-chair of the independent Net Zero Advisory Body, reports, “It is going to take a really heavy lift at this point.” Serge Dupont, a former deputy minister at Natural Resources Canada, says “I think it’s a safe prediction … that we will not meet that target.” As if echoing the pessimism, the country is currently on pace to miss its interim 2026 target.
Our electricity sector has slashed its emissions by half, however, the oil and gas industry continues to offset these gains, accounting for Canada’s largest share of emissions. And yet we continue to talk pipelines.
Big nation-building projects are all the rage among the political class, the answer to Canadian economic self-sufficiency and sovereignty in the face of Trump’s threats. All well and good, but the biggest threat to all of us isn’t Trump, it’s climate change. It is critical that we maintain our priorities and not allow Trumpian nonsense, as dangerous as it is, to distract us from the big challenge. The American betrayal simply means the rest of us have to do more.