It has been a difficult few weeks for climate change policy in the US.

If you haven’t been following along, here’s what’s been going on:

1. Fuel Economy Standards – Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced that the EPA would begin reviewing (and possibly weakening) federal fuel economy standards for cars and trucks that were originally passed by the Obama administration. The Obama standards are designed to increase the miles per gallon of new vehicles, as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector (which accounts for about a third of all US emissions).

2. Budget cuts – Trump has proposed a whopping 31 percent cut to the EPA’s budget, bringing the main federal department that is working on monitoring emissions and climate change to its lowest funding level in 40 years. Trump’s budget proposal also includes cuts to renewable energy research at the Department of Energy, climate research at NASA, and payments sent to the UN’s climate change programs.

3. “Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth” – This week, President Trump took his biggest step toward unraveling this country’s climate change policies with a new executive order.

Here’s what’s in the order:
Essentially, Trump is telling the federal government to…

• Start rolling back and rewriting the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan – In case you forgot, the Clean Power Plan is an EPA rule aimed at cutting emissions from current power plants 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
• Reconsider regulations on methane emissions from oil and gas drilling – Although carbon dioxide tends to get all the credit for climate change, methane is also a potent greenhouse gas and a lot of it leaks during oil and gas drilling. The Obama administration had set a goal of reducing those emissions 40 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. With this new executive order, the Trump administration might try and change these goals, as well as the rules put in place to achieve them.
• Reconsider regulations on new coal plants – Under Obama, the EPA set emissions standards on new coal plants that were so stringent that it was nearly impossible to build a new coal plant unless it had carbon capture technology. Under Trump, the EPA could rewrite these rules to make them less restrictive.

One thing to note – none of these changes will happen overnight. Rolling back some of these rules is not as easy as signing a piece of paper and many of these proposed changes will likely be challenged in court. Plus, when it comes to things like the budget, Trump can put out a proposal, but then Congress gets to take a crack at it. Nonetheless, taken as a whole, all of Trump’s recent decisions on climate change definitely mark a change in US policy that could last for years to come.

What about the Paris Climate Agreement?

(Reminder – The Paris Climate Agreement is the world’s first real global accord on climate change. It was agreed upon in Paris at the end of 2015 and includes individual emission reductions pledges from nearly every country in the world. Under the agreement, the US pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.)

Although Trump spoke a lot on the campaign trail about removing the US from the Paris Agreement, this latest executive order does not explicitly do so. His office says that he is still looking into the agreement and deciding whether or not to withdraw.

However, even though this executive order doesn’t technically remove the US from the Paris Agreement, it will it make difficult for us to meet our promises.  This  graphic from the New York Times illustrates the impact that completely eliminating the Clean Power Plan would have on our greenhouse gas emissions.

from the New York Times

This chart shows the impact of eliminating fuel economy standards.

from the New York Times

The Trump administration will likely not be able to eliminate the Clean Power Plan or fuel standards completely (there are still some rules that prevent him from doing that ), but it could weaken them. And considering the fact that even with all of Obama-era policies in place, we still weren’t projected to meet our Paris goals, any changes to the policies makes hitting our targets unlikely.

What is Austin saying?

In response to Trump’s executive order, a coalition of mayors (including Austin Mayor Steve Alder) representing 41 million Americans in 75 cities across the country published an open letter in opposition to the rollback of America’s climate policies.

They wrote that, “Climate change is both the greatest single threat we face, and our greatest economic opportunity for our nation.” Together, they all affirmed their city’s commitments to “taking every action possible to achieve the principles and goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.” In other words, they’re moving forward on climate action, even if the federal government isn’t.

Adler echoed that sentiment in a Facebook post published this week. He wrote, “Austin will continue to fight climate change. Worldwide, cities such as Austin will lead in this effort because so much of what’s needed will happen at the local level. Regardless of what happens around us, we’re still Austin, Texas.”

What about the economics?

One of the main arguments behind Trump’s executive order is that rolling back the country’s climate commitments will help to create more jobs, spur economic growth, and create American energy independence. As the New York Times reports, during his executive order signing ceremony he said to a group of coal miners,“C’mon, fellas. You know what this is? You know what this says? You’re going back to work.”

Since the executive order has been announced, many organizations have refuted the idea that the fossil fuel industry is ideal for job creation.

The coalition of so-called “Climate Mayors” wrote in their letter that they see climate action as an investment in the economy and in job creation, saying that, “electric vehicles, solar power, energy efficiency and battery storage are all avenues to restoring our nation’s manufacturing base and create good, middle class jobs.”

Earlier this month, our radio partner Shades of Green dedicated an entire episode to the clean energy economy, featuring guests from the Environmental Defense Fund and CleanTX. EDF has published a report which found that wind and solar power generation now employ more than four times as many Texans as fossil fuel electric generation. You can learn all about it in our Shades of Green podcast.