For over 30 years, a coalition of fossil fuel companies and their supporters – politicians as well as businesses who gain from maintaining the status quo – have been fighting the scientific community and their environmental supporters in the battle for and against climate change.
In a round of comments that are sure to cause cognitive dissonance in those of a highly partisan bent, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has requested that US President Donald Trump do something about the protectionism in China relating to the auto industry (via tweets of course).
The US Solar Energy Industries Association has this week unveiled its blueprint plan to put America first on economic growth, jobs, manufacturing, and national security, while maintaining the solar industry’s booming growth.
If the US Government and its International Trade Commission rules in favor of a recent trade dispute filed by Chinese-backed US solar PV manufacturer Suniva, then the country’s solar industry would be immediately devastated, and could see two-thirds of expected installations over the next five years erased.
Within hours of Donald Trump swearing the oath of office, his new Administration had wiped all signs of President Obama, renewable energy, and climate-related policies from the official White House website, signalling what many feared would be a purge of all the work President Obama did for the environment.
In our first Podcast, you’ll go behind the headlines to examine the Trump transition on energy and climate change. You’ll learn about a leaked internal memo laying out Trump’s step-by-step plan to reverse the 8 years of progress under President Obama. You’ll hear about a witch hunt Trump has launched at the Department of Energy for civil servants who work on climate issues. You’ll meet the key players who Trump has already appointed. And you’ll get a preview of the scariest potential appointment of all, which is about to become reality.
Trump’s talk about coal and natural gas, and wind and solar expense (which isn’t true, by the way) may not lead to the end of renewable energy in the United States. In fact, solar likely will continue to flourish under the new administration because the industry creates jobs, prices are dropping, and it has consistently had support from both sides of the political aisle.
The CEO of GM, Mary Barra, has been appointed to President-Elect Donald Trump’s 16-member economic and job creation advisory board — accompanied by the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Boeing, Walt Disney, Walmart, and others.
The Obama administration’s US Department of Energy has made a new commitment for its SunShot Initiative to cut the cost of solar-generated electricity by another 50% between 2020 and 2030.
Donald Trump could scrap the Obama administration’s plans to combat climate change once he takes office, a move that could shift climate policy making to local lawmakers instead of national ones, experts say.
