In the thirteen months since his second inauguration, President Donald Trump has not just tapped the brakes on American climate policy; he has dismantled the engine.
Under the banner of a “National Energy Emergency,” the administration has moved with a speed that has left both environmentalists and global allies reeling. From the “Holy Grail” repeal of scientific findings to the sudden withdrawal from a half-century of international cooperation, the shifts of 2025 and early 2026 represent the most radical pivot in the history of U.S. environmental law.
Here are the six most consequential effects of the Trump administration’s climate policy overhaul.
1. The Death of the ‘Endangerment Finding’
On February 12, 2026, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized what the White House calls the “single largest deregulatory action in American history.” By rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the EPA has officially discarded the legal conclusion that greenhouse gases threaten public health.
- The Fallout: This move strips the federal government of its primary mandate to regulate carbon under the Clean Air Act, effectively placing the “burden of proof” back on scientists to relitigate twenty years of climate data in court.
2. The $1.3 Trillion ‘Consumer Choice’ Dividend
In tandem with the endangerment repeal, the administration has eliminated all federal greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles from model years 2012 through 2027 and beyond.
- The Fallout: The White House claims this will save Americans $1.3 trillion by lowering the average price of a new car by $2,400. However, it also eliminates the “electric vehicle mandate,” removing the credits and start-stop technology incentives that were pushing the U.S. toward a zero-emission fleet.
3. A ‘Great Global Withdrawal’
In January 2026, the U.S. did the unthinkable: it announced its intent to withdraw not just from the Paris Climate Agreement, but from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the IPCC.
- The Fallout: This is a step beyond the first term. By leaving the UNFCCC—a Senate-ratified treaty—the U.S. is effectively surrendering its seat at the table of global climate governance, leaving China and the EU to dictate the rules of the green economy.
4. The ‘Unleashing’ of Public Lands
Under the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, the Department of the Interior has opened nearly 1.3 billion acres of coastal waters and millions of acres of protected national forest to oil and gas drilling.
- The Fallout: This “drill, baby, drill” resurgence has seen over 470 new permits approved on public land in 2026 alone. While this has bolstered domestic production, conservationists warn it locks in forty years of future carbon emissions that the planet can ill afford.
5. The Methane ‘Stay of Execution’
In a win for the oil and gas lobby, the EPA has delayed the implementation of methane reduction requirements until January 2027.
- The Fallout: Originally set for March 2026, this 10-month delay is estimated by the EPA’s own previous calculations to be equivalent to adding 25 million gas-powered cars to the atmosphere, significantly slowing the fight against one of the most potent warming gases.
6. The ‘Hushing’ of Federal Science
In what critics call a “scientific purge,” the administration has dismantled the National Center for Atmospheric Research and scrubbed “climate change” and “emissions” from the Department of Energy’s official vocabulary.
- The Fallout: By firing the scientists responsible for the National Climate Assessment and ending NOAA’s tracking of billion-dollar weather disasters, the administration is effectively “flying blind,” removing the data tools used by businesses and local governments to prepare for extreme weather.