The newly elected president of the United States Donald Trump has made it clear that the extraction of fossil fuels such as gas and oilthe main culprits of the climate crisis will be its priority, in a declaration of intentions of what will be its environmental and energy policy in the next four years.
Your victory has returned the staunchest climate change denier to the White House, who is willing to dismantle the environmental policies of his predecessor and who cares little about jeopardizing global efforts to stop global warming.
Experts warn that during the second presidency of Trump will abruptly stop the transition to green energy. And they fear that this will end their hopes of achieving the long-term climate goals that have been agreed upon by the international community.
Reverse climate commitments
Donald Trump assumed the presidency of USA for the second time. His arrival at White House It is surrounded by questions from different sectors. Many scientists and environmental organizations criticize his denialist stance on climate change during his first term – from 2017 to 2021 – a position that has raised doubts and concerns regarding the decisions that his administration may make on environmental issues.
During the last campaign to reach the White House, Donald Trump announced that, If he comes into office, the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Now that he assumes the Presidency, he is expected to fulfill what he offered. The matter was finalized this Monday, January 20. This is not the first time that the United States has abandoned the Paris Agreement. In June 2017, during Trump’s first term, one of the most questioned environmental measures was the country’s withdrawal from the international treaty. This decision came into effect in November 2020.
“There is global concern because Trump mentioned that he will do exactly what he did in his first term: leave the Paris Agreement and immediately authorize a large number of scans oil and natural gas”says Brazilian scientist Carlos Nobre, member of the World Academy of Science.
Reduction of climate funds
Another topic that that worries experts in environmental issues is the possible reduction of climate funds coming from the United States. David Purkey, director for Latin America of the Stockholm Environment Institute, points out that “the United States contributed a lot” to climate funds, therefore, he considers that the Green Environmental Facility GEF (Global Environment Fund) can be reduced.
Relations in the region change
Óscar Soria, co-founder of Common Initiative, believes that the Trump administration is going to have a “much closer” relationship with Ecuador, Argentina and El Salvador throughout the anti-climate agenda. For Soria, the climate issue will be a transversal element in the relationships or in the diplomatic tensions among several Latin American countries.
“The fact that Trump won the elections has a series of challenges for the countries of the region. Its environmental policy has always been hostile to environmental policies adopted by their country. In that context, I believe that all the advances that the United States generated in the region are at risk,” adds Soria.
The minerals of the lithium triangle
Another worrying issue for Latin America with the arrival of Trump to the Presidency of the United States is the race for the exploitation of critical minerals for the so-called energy transition and the implications for the communities of the lithium triangle Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which will have much more pressure.
“We are going to see a very aggressive policy regarding the exploitation of critical minerals, mainly the space issue, solar energy and electric cars,” says Soria, from the Common Initiative, and specifies that attention must be paid to the participation of the new business bourgeoisie in the Trump administrationwhich are related to technology, in reference to the election of Elon Musk in the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump’s government team
Donald Trump decided to appoint Lee Zeldin as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a former Republican congressman from New York State, who voted against Joe Biden’s climate bill and against better control of methane emissionsone of the greenhouse gases.
Another of the questioned appointments has been that of the billionaire Elon Musk to lead, along with the Republican businessman and politician Vivek Ramaswamy, in the new Department of Government Efficiency. Ramaswamy is the founder of Roivant Sciences, a company dedicated to acquiring pharmaceutical patents not yet commercialized or in the experimental phase. Musk is considered a leader of the energy transition for his companies Tesla, dedicated to the manufacture of electric vehicles, and Tesla Energy, which produces solar panels. However, these companies have been reported by the EPA on several occasions for violate environmental regulations.
The list of Trump’s government team includes other controversial figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is a well-known anti-vaccine; Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy, director of an oil company that promotes and uses fracking; and Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, who would be key to boosting oil, gas and coal production and dismantling regulations. Mongabay Latam.