17 Ways Trump’s Day 1 Orders Change U.S. Policy On Energy And The Environment
HuffPost
Trump’s flurry of executive orders after the inauguration heralds sweeping changes to U.S. policy on climate change and energy.
Hours after being sworn in for a second term in the White House, in front of a raucous crowd gathered inside Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders designed to overhaul U.S. energy policies and upend America’s approach to curbing climate change.
The orders cover everything from withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accords and declaring the nation’s first “energy emergency” to speed up permitting on fossil fuels, nuclear power and mining to halting offshore wind development and opening America’s largest national forest to increased logging.
HuffPost has reviewed the orders on the White House website and unpacked the most significant changes:
1. Withdrawing From The Paris Agreement
Just as he did in 2017, Trump signed an executive order halting implementation of the U.S. climate target pledged under the Paris Agreement, putting America in league with Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries outside the first truly global carbon-cutting pact. The deal, brokered 10 years ago when France hosted the United Nations’ annual worldwide climate talks, aimed to keep global temperatures from climbing beyond 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above pre-industrial averages. The Paris accords established a reach goal of containing warming below 1.5 degrees, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks to the La Niña weather patterns last year, 2024 marked the first time the world eclipsed that number.
