The Trump Administration’s Environmental Policies Make the United States an Outlier in the Global Shift to Clean Energy
January 30, 2025 by Agnes Enochs

Smokestacks disperse pollutants into the atmosphere.
Trump spent his first day in office issuing a series of executive orders reversing the Biden administration’s policies on climate change and energy. As Trump retreats from global climate cooperation, is the U.S. falling out of step with the rest of the world?
President Trump spent his first day (of his second term) in office issuing a series of executive orders reversing the Biden administration’s policies on climate change and energy. An order titled “Unleashing American Energy” called for the disbanding of the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, paused the disbursement of funds to clean energy as designated by the Inflation Reduction Act, and instructed agencies to reconsider the greenhouse gas (GHG) “endangerment finding” – the EPA’s determination that GHG emissions threaten the public health and welfare.[1] Trump also ordered that agencies should no longer account for the social cost of carbon, pledged to eliminate the electric vehicle mandate, and eased the permitting process for fossil fuel projects.[2]
These steps make America an outlier in the worldwide clean energy transition. Globally, investments in renewable energy were double that of fossil fuels in 2024,[3] and many large economies are making significant developments and investments in renewables. Although China is the greatest emitter of GHGs, the country also leads worldwide in wind and solar development and is home to nearly two-thirds of global utility-scale wind and solar power projects currently under construction.[4] The European Union is moving away from natural gas: last year, solar made up 11% of power generation across the bloc, surpassing coal usage.[5] Britain closed its last coal-fired power plant last year, marking the end of coal-powered electricity in the United Kingdom.[6] Even Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, pledged to generate 50% of its power from renewable sources by 2030.[7]
While many other developed nations are breaking ties with fossil fuels, the Trump administration is determined to continue extracting and burning coal, oil, and gas. Trump declared an “energy emergency” which will allow companies to produce more oil and gas and grants the government broad powers to halt already approved clean-energy projects.[8] Furthermore, Trump once again withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, a decision which leaves the U.S. out of step with the rest of the world.[9]
Whether these executive orders will take effect quickly, however, remains to be seen. Environmental activists across the country are preparing to challenge the orders and take the federal government to court, as was the case during Trump’s first term.[10] For example, the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice filed 120 lawsuits during the first two years of Trump’s prior administration, winning 85% of their cases.[11] During the 2016-2018 period, the Brookings Institution found that the Trump administration had only a 5% success rate when challenged in court, compared to a 69% success rate of previous presidential administrations.[12]Although the current Supreme Court has three Trump-appointed justices and leans heavily conservative, it is unclear whether this will translate into the immediate rubber-stamping of his agenda.[13] In any regard, Trump’s executive orders are already generating significant policy changes and may serve to further hamstring the administrative state in carrying out rulemaking and regulation. As the Trump administration retreats from global climate cooperation, the U.S. will no longer be seen as a leader in the clean energy transition and will undoubtedly feel the effects as the climate crisis only continues to worsen.
[1] Pamela King, Niina H. Farah & Lesley Clark, Legal Pitfalls Could Trouble Trump’s Executive Actions, E&E News (Jan. 21, 2025, 1:59 PM), https://perma.cc/TSE8-ZXRS.
[2] Id.
[3] Somini Sengupta, Trump’s Retreat from Clean Energy Puts the U.S. Out of Step With the World, The New York Times (Jan. 23, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/23/climate/trump-global-energy-transition.html.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Clare Zhang, Trump Reverses Climate Policies on First Day in Office, American Institute of Physics (Jan. 23, 2025), https://perma.cc/XL7K-3PR7.
[9] Nate Perez & Rachel Waldholz, Trump is Withdrawing From the Paris Agreement (Again), Reversing U.S. Climate Policy, National Public Radio (Jan. 21, 2025, 5:00 AM), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5266207/trump-paris-agreement-biden-climate-change.
[10] Kristoffer Tigue, Keerti Gopal & Marianne Lavelle, As Trump Targets Biden’s Environmental Justice Initiatives, Activists Gear Up for Legal Fights, Inside Climate News (Jan. 26, 2025), https://perma.cc/L55U-EDEE.
[11] Special Report: Two Years of Overruling the Trump Administration, Earthjustice (Jan. 17, 2019), https://perma.cc/8TNN-EKNL; Trump is More Prepared This Time. We Are Too., Earthjustice (Nov. 6, 2024), https://perma.cc/28AY-3EE5.
[12] Special Report: Two Years of Overruling the Trump Administration, Earthjustice (Jan. 17, 2019), https://perma.cc/8TNN-EKNL.
[13] See King et. al, supra note 1.