Trump’s reelection has sweeping climate change consequences

By Andrew Freedman

Former President Donald Trump‘s reelection threatens to worsen global climate change by altering the trajectory of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, eroding federal climate research and forecasting, and abdicating America’s leadership role in global climate negotiations.

Why it matters: His return to the White House comes at a time when climate scientists have warned that the Paris Agreement’s warming targets are slipping dangerously out of reach, raising the odds of potentially catastrophic consequences.

• Already, climate change-worsened disasters have claimed hundreds of lives in the U.S. during the past few months alone.

Zoom in: Trump’s emphasis on drilling for more oil and gas — if paired with rollbacks of emissions-limiting regulations and alterations to the Biden climate law — could lead to significantly more U.S. greenhouse gas emissions than would have been expected had Vice President Kamala Harris defeated him.

• In addition, Trump has a long record of threatening federal scientists’ independence, including at the EPA and weather and climate agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• During his first term, this was demonstrated in the alteration of a hurricane forecast, which came to be known as “Sharpiegate” and rattled NOAA at a time when the agency was monitoring a Category 5 hurricane.
• His administration also tried to bury a congressionally mandated national climate science report and disavowed the findings, despite the involvement of all 13 climate science research agencies.

Later in his first term, the Trump administration tried to insert climate deniers into the office overseeing the next assessment, which was largely prepared and published during the Biden administration.