As it stands, the U.S. will miss its 2030 Paris Agreement commitment by a mile — a fact unlikely to trouble Trump, who abandoned the agreement on his first day back in office.
The new Rhodium findings illustrate how swiftly Trump and the GOP have undone the hard-fought energy-transition progress made by the Biden administration.
Three years ago, then-president Joe Biden signed the landmark Inflation Reduction Act into effect, creating generous tax incentives for renewables, home-energy upgrades, and electric vehicles, as well as a host of grant and loan programs aimed at accelerating industries away from fossil fuel use.
But the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress have essentially repealed the law, as well as a host of other environmental protections, like limits on vehicle emissions, that would have helped not only rein in greenhouse gases but also reduce harmful air pollution.
It’s grim news. But inherent in this rapid reversal of progress is, if you squint, a kernel of hope: Trump has proven that things can change very fast. Under a new administration, a rapid change of trajectory could happen again.