President-elect Donald Trump is set to pull the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement again. According to sources within his transition team, this withdrawal is part of a broader plan to reverse several climate and environmental policies implemented by the Biden administration.
In 2020, Trump formally withdrew the U.S. from the agreement during his first term, a move reversed by Biden in 2021.
Following his election, Trump’s team has drafted executive orders aimed at rolling back policies introduced during Joe Biden’s term, which emphasized environmental justice and clean energy. According to The New York Times, the planned withdrawal will be accompanied by revoking green initiatives focused on underserved communities, which Trump’s allies label as part of a “woke” agenda.
In addition to exiting the Paris Agreement, Trump plans to remove restrictions on drilling and mining in federally protected areas, allowing fossil fuel activities on national monuments. The administration is also poised to lift a federal pause on the development of new natural gas export terminals, a restriction originally imposed to slow fossil fuel exports.
Additionally, Trump aims to revoke a waiver granted to California and other states that enables them to enforce stricter air pollution standards than federal regulations. By centralizing control of pollution standards, the administration seeks to streamline industry requirements nationwide.
Another expected appointment involves a newly created position of “energy czar,” a role intended to unify energy policies across government agencies and support increased domestic production of oil, natural gas, and coal. Trump’s team argues that increasing fossil fuel output will boost the U.S. economy, a key objective of the new administration.