https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4993135-trump-climate-change-impact/
By William S. Becker – William S. Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project and a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy.
One of the best things about America is that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. However, what happens when an incoming leader has an opinion so ill-informed that it threatens national security, economic stability, millions of new jobs, public health and the safety of virtually every American?
We’re about to find out, because voters have elected Donald Trump as the next president.
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Now, the man about to take charge of the world’s biggest carbon-fuel producer and second-biggest source of carbon emissions thinks climate change is a “hoax” and climate scientists are “alarmists.”
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Another study found that Republicans represent 19 of the 20 congressional districts that have won clean energy investments under the Inflation Reduction Act. These investments are expected to create 110,000 new jobs and leverage at least $126 billion in private investments across 40 states.
Yet another study, published last year in the journal Energy Policy, concluded that decarbonizing the national economy could create nearly 9 million jobs by 2050, accounting for up to 5 percent of the workforce and 90 percent of the energy-sector labor force by then.
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Others expect an even more significant shift by 2050, with 84 percent of energy jobs in the renewable sector compared to only 11 percent in fossil fuels and 5 percent in nuclear.
In sum, the job growth in renewables would more than offset the job losses in fossil fuels.
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Trump’s misguided plans and misinformed statements had an immediate effect after the Nov. 5 election. The Financial Times noted that his election “dealt a blow to the renewable energy industry, prompting at least half a dozen developers to put projects on hold and investors to dump shares.”
If there is a bright spot in the Trump administration, it could be Elon Musk. He appears to have Trump’s ear. He takes climate change so seriously that he’s racing to create a shuttle to Mars.
What we know for sure is that the U.S. and the world should be redoubling itsefforts to deploy clean energy and speed up decarbonization. Instead, Trump’s election will cause another major setback. The American people, and the world’s, will suffer for it.
