Donald Trump made his energy plans quite clear to convert the campaign: more fossil fuels, less environmental protections and a complete retreat from global climate cooperation.
Almost 100 days after its second administration, it has moved with dizzying speed to meet those promises.
On day 1, he brought the United States out of the climate agreement of Paris, making him the only country that moves away from the global pact to limit heating (again). His administration cut or frozen funds for the development of clean energy, particularly the wind, which Congress had already approved. At the same time, Trump has aggressively promoted the expansion of fossil fuels, declaring a national “energy emergency” to RAM through oil and gas projects, and has proposed to reverse the review of the review. Greenhouse gas emissions are dangerous – A measure that would destroy the legal foundations of the decades of climate law.
And, of course, with the help of Elon Musk and his government efficiency department, the climate action machinery is actively dismantling: Thousands of public servants have already been fires” Deleted programs, Remoked Climate References from websites.
But here is the thing: as harmful as Trump’s actions have been, the climatic fight is not over, far from that. Trump’s actions could delay our efforts to face climate change, but the reality is that progress could be unstoppable.
We have reached a hopeful turning point in which the economy and clean energy technology have gathered enough impulse that even the policy of 2025 can stop it. Hence the name of the new Vox package: escape velocity.
In a nutshell, clean energy is no longer the right thing, it is a good business. Wind and solar? Among the cheaper electricity sources in the world. Batteries and electric cars? Improving and more accessible for the year.
That does not mean that the fossil fuel industry is not yet powerful, it is. And fossil fuel subsidies are alive and well. But the progress we have made is not the child who cannot reverse with a single choice.
The energy economy is Transition. Technology is Advance. The market is Shifting. Our policy can feel stuck, but in many important ways, we continue advancing.
And that matters, because every fraction of a grade or warm that we can avoid It means saved livesFutures preserved and more natural disasters avoided.
This year is the midpoint of this century until 2050, the year stamped on many of the most critical climatic objectives in the world. It is a good time to ask if the energy transition is moving fast enough to help us get there, and what a hard progress is likely to exceed the most determined opposition.
With the exhaust speed, the Vox climate team set out to answer those questions. We observe the unexpected places where progress continues to happen, the technology that is changing everything in silence and the tectonic changes that have changed the economic calculation or a world of heating.
The climatic fight was never going to be easy. Trump in many ways will make it more difficult. But contrary to the headlines, it has no legs. And in many ways, he is winning.
