A Review of US Environmental Policy

March 10th, 2025

Ian Cheng

The Paris Agreement and Emissions

Once again, Trump has pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement. This makes America not bound to the agreement's key objective, limiting the increase of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees below industrial levels. That has led to the separate goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 61% below 2005 levels by the next decade. In the last twenty years, US emissions have fallen 20%, making significant progress. However, to meet climate goals, these numbers would have to decline 10 times faster each year. Trump’s policies, especially those that champion fossil fuel production, is estimated to drive emissions up by 24-36% compared to Joe Biden’s pro-environmental policies.

Electric Vehicles (EVs)

One of Joe Biden’s first initiatives when he took office was an executive order demanding that 50% of new vehicles sold in 2030 would be fully electric, or at least hybrids. Trump rescinded that, and as a result, companies like General Motors and Ford have less incentive to ramp up EV production. This gives China an opportunity to capitalize. The Asian power already has the capacity to produce 20 million EVs a year, and that has now reflected internationally, with the statistic that China has sextupled its car exports in the last four years. The country’s revenue is projected to reach $377.9 billion in 2025, and since America, the top competitor, is falling behind, China can further dominate in an industry made for the future.

Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

The biggest impact of the IRA, published in 2022, wasn’t economic, but environmental. Taking away the energy and tax policies that it provided, such as tax credits for residential solar panels, is estimated to increase average energy costs by as much as $489 a year for each household in 2035. The consequences also hit corporations hard. Nel, a Norwegian company, is a beneficiary of the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit. Hydrogen, especially when produced with renewable energy sources like solar and wind, can then generate energy and electricity with only water as waste. Nel gathered about $200 million in state and federal funds to build a gigafactory in Michigan, which would employ upwards of 500 workers. However, it has paused the spending of that money thanks to fears over Trump’s policy, more specifically, his suspension of IRA funding through an executive order in January. Even if the president doesn’t cut the IRA off completely, uncertainty will kill ambitious investment in clean energy.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Climate change isn’t just about a hotter world, but a more polluted one as well. Trump’s reforms will contribute to this. His pick for administrator of the EPA, Lee Zeldin, has already recommended that the agency reverses the 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health. This would take away the legal reasoning that the federal government has used for climate policies like the IRA, essentially saying goodbye to future green legislation. Furthermore, Trump’s willingness to produce oil at huge amounts is dangerous. The Endangered Species Act is one of the key restrictions to oil drilling, but now, Trump has opened up areas in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for this, something that Biden has shied away from. This will result in a significant loss of biodiversity in a region already hard-hit by climate change, and disrupt land and sea for several years to come. To add on, oil extraction in that area is estimated to cost $123 billion, highlighting that fossil fuels aren’t as cheap as Trump perceives them to be.

When considering the fact that over the next 30 years, climate change could erase $1.47 trillion in value from the US housing market alone, it is an issue for both the short and long term. Unfortunately, Trump’s policies take it with a grain of salt. This will devastate America, and the world, for several more years to come.