Scholars have argued that elites, such as presidents, can play a role in shaping beliefs of the mass public; is it possible that under Donald Trump’s presidency, his confidence in the spread of misinformation played a part in convincing people that climate change is a hoax? Whilst we live in an age of ‘fact-checking’, and any fact thrown at the population by a public figure can be immediately debunked (Porter et. al., 2019), is it possible that some of Trump’s supporters still choose to ignore the hard, scientific facts and believe a wealthy man in a fancy suit? How does this affect the future of climate change science and policies? Can Joe Biden reverse the damage he has done and make the USA a leader in green energy and battling climate change?
Donald Trump’s presidency resulted in the appointment of “climate change deniers and sceptics to influential climate change-related positions” (Selby, 2019:471). As a result, a lot of the policy changes made by Obama which aimed to reduce US carbon emissions were reversed and replaced with fossil-fuel-powered projects which prioritised financial gain over their environmental impact. Climate change and the environment were not at the top of the list of Trumps' priorities; his non-cooperation and withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, amongst many other 'anti-environment' actions only speaks for itself. According to Urpelainen and Van de Graaf, the US non-cooperation in actions against climate change poses at least three big threats; failure to uphold its other emission reduction pledges, such as the Copenhagen Accord, which could result in loss of commitment of the other parties, and most importantly, it poses a threat to climate finance. Whilst the US is a huge contributor to carbon emissions, it also contributes massively to climate finance: in 2013 and 2014, the US delivered approximately US$ 2.7 billion per year. If this support ended, it would have a huge impact on the global climate finance (Urpelainen and Van de Graaf, 2018).
In the 4 years of Trump’s presidency, his money-centered actions have no doubt had a lasting effect on climate change and the environment. The question that we can ask ourselves now is - can Joe Biden fix his mistakes? He certainly seems to have a different outlook on climate change than his predecessor:
“It’s about coming to the moment to deal with this maximum threat that we — that’s now facing us — climate change — with a greater sense of urgency. In my view, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis and we can’t wait any longer. We see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones, and it’s time to act“ - Joe Biden, The United States Government, (2021).
Since his inauguration on the 20th of January 2021, Biden has already made a number of changes regarding climate change. Most importantly, he has re-entered the Paris Agreement; US will be officially rejoining the agreement on the 19th of February. Further, he already has plans to commit the US to large carbon cuts, he has revoked the permit for the build of a 2,000km oil pipeline and has made climate change an issue of national security (Rowlatt, 2021). All within two weeks of his inauguration. Biden has promised to 'exercise global leadership' in order to meet the objectives set out by the Paris Agreement (Chemnick, 2021). Is it possible that he may be able to undo some of Trump's damage? Time will tell.
Chemnick, J., (2021). 'Here Are All the Climate Actions Biden Took on Day One'. Scientific American, E&E News, 21 January. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/here-are-all-the-climate-actions-biden-took-on-day-one/ (Accessed on 01/02/21).
Park, D.J., (2018). United States news media and climate change in the era of US President Trump. Integrated environmental assessment and management, 14(2), pp.202-204.
Porter, E., Wood, T.J. and Bahador, B., (2019). Can presidential misinformation on climate change be corrected? Evidence from Internet and phone experiments. Research & Politics, 6(3), p.2053168019864784.
Rowlatt, J., (2021). 'Biden's climate agenda: Is this the beginning of the end for fossil fuels?'. BBC News, 31 January. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55872331 (Accessed on 01/02/21).
Selby, J., (2019). The Trump presidency, climate change, and the prospect of a disorderly energy transition." Review of International Studies, 45(3), pp.471-490.
The White House. The United States Government. (2021). 'Remarks by President Biden Before Signing Executive Actions on Tackling Climate Change, Creating Jobs, and Restoring Scientific Integrity' . Washington, D.C. Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/01/27/remarks-by-president-biden-before-signing-executive-actions-on-tackling-climate-change-creating-jobs-and-restoring-scientific-integrity/ (Accessed on 01/02/21).
Urpelainen, J. and Van de Graaf, T., (2018). United States non-cooperation and the Paris agreement. Climate Policy, 18(7), pp.839-851.
