The Climate Is Changing in the United States: Preserving Environmental Interests in a New Administration

By Eric Grimes

President Trump made his intentions for United States environmental interests clear within hours of his inauguration. Among the slew of executive orders President Trump passed on his first day in office was an order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, another authorizing unlimited oil drilling, and another gutting green initiatives across the country. Few people in the world today do not believe climate change and the health of the environment are extremely prominent issues requiring immediate and extensive action. Unfortunately, the President and his administration seem to be among the group of people uninterested and unwilling to act. While the President’s policies do not look good for the United States’ environment, hope for its protection can still be found elsewhere. President Trump has attacked many environmental issues, but this post will focus on the initiatives surrounding the Paris Agreement. Many initiatives outside of the Federal government aim to mitigate the President’s environmental policies.

When President Trump was elected for a second term, many hoped he would reverse his stance from his first termand allow the United States to stay in the Paris Agreement. The Agreement focuses on keeping global warming below a 2 degrees Celsius increase from global temperature in 1990. The 2-degree level is largely understood to be a temperature at which there will be severe climate change impacts. Unfortunately, President Trump has felt that goal does not align with his policy interests. Luckily, between the initiatives established after the President’s first withdrawal and a substantial number of pessimists (or possibly realists?) concerned with his second withdrawal, avenues have been made to uphold the U.S. obligations to the Paris Agreement without Trump.

The most prominent representation of hope for Pro-Paris interests is the U.S. Climate Alliance. The U.S. Climate Alliance is a coalition of state governors interested in upholding the United States obligations under the Paris Agreement in their states. The representative states make up over 50% of the United States population and economy. The U.S. Climate Alliance allowed states to fight back against President Trump’s first withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. After the first withdrawal, the U.S. Climate Alliance was responsible for extensive climate legislation and regulations. Some of the resulting statutes passed included the Vermont Global Warming Solutions Act of 2020, which held Vermont to even stronger goals than the Paris Agreement, and the 2017 Climate Change Scoping Plan Update, which created an extensive plan for California to achieve its climate goals. When President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement after taking office, the U.S. Climate Alliance slowed down its activity. However, on the same day as President Trump’s recent withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. Climate Alliance made a public statement about upholding the United States’ pledge to the Agreement.

The current political turmoil in the United States has created a shift toward greater localization of action. The U.S. Climate Alliance is a perfect example of localizing action to address climate change. State governments might not have the reach or the resources that the federal government possesses, but they have the drive and support to address change where they can. Situations like these can sometimes even encourage states–such as Vermont, California, Hawai’i, and New York–to create stronger goals and legislation to address climate change than the federal government can or would implement. On top of state-specific action, local governments, organizations, and companies have started to take action to support the fight against climate change. America Is All In, a joint declaration of over 5,000 organizations committed to upholding the obligations of the Paris Agreement, is a prominent example of companies joining the fight against climate change. The coalition includes many influential companies such as Microsoft, which recently entered into an agreement to directly support the Paris Agreement.

While the United States may have left the Paris Agreement, hope can still be found in the shift to localized efforts. President Trump’s efforts to disrupt climate action in the United States may be successful at the federal level, but the path forward is clear for state and local governments, companies and organizations, and people and communities. Climate change must be addressed through all available avenues. For issues as pressing as climate change, action cannot be put off till the next administration.