Em um ano de governo, a administração Trump dedicou-se a desmontar a estrutura institucional, políticas públicas e legislação que davam suporte à ação pela sustentabilidade no país. Órgãos foram extintos, houve demissão em massa de gestores públicos, universidades foram atacadas e até sites que mantinham importantes acervos de dados técnicos e acadêmicos foram tirados do ar.
Devido às suas contradições, a força dos lobbies do atraso e a tradicional aversão ao multilateralismo, os EUA nunca assumiram um papel de liderança na política ambiental e climática mundial, nem mesmo nas administrações democratas. Por outro lado, sempre foram uma vanguarda científica e tecnológica e produziram políticas que influenciaram o mundo, principalmente por iniciativas dos governos estaduais e municipais. Todo este legado vem sendo destruído de forma sistemática, motivado pelo negacionismo climático e pelos interesses da oligarquia que assumiu o comando dos EUA com Trump.
Os prejuízos não são apenas para os EUA, mas para o planeta e a humanidade.
It’s not just you: It’s almost impossible to keep up with the tumult and chaos issuing from Washington, D.C. Under the second Trump administration, funding freezes, regulatory rollbacks and sweeping executive orders are unfolding at record speed.
This ongoing tracker runs down the latest moves that affect the business of sustainability, since Trump inked a battery of executive orders the day he was inaugurated, including six that immediately changed the federal stance on energy, climate and sustainability. We will be updating and republishing this guide in the weeks and months ahead. Buckle up.
December 8, 2025: Judge nixes Trump’s wind energy banA U.S. District judge in Massachusetts
vacated President Donald Trump’s executive order halting wind projects on federal lands and waters, describing it as “arbitrary and capricious.” Trump’s policy was challenged by 17 states and Washington, D.C., that have invested millions in development and transmission line upgrades. Wind energy is the latest source of U.S. renewable electricity, providing about 10 percent of the nation’s power.
December 3, 2025: Trump weakens federal fuel economy standardsThe Department of Transportation plans to
roll back fuel efficiency requirements for passenger cars and light trucks to 2022 levels, reversing President Joe Biden’s policy calling for automakers to increase them by 2 percent annually. Trump’s proposal calls for an increase of 0.5 percent per year. The change is subject to a public comment period before it can be finalized.
November 17, 2025: EPA proposes limits on wetland protectionsThe Environmental Protection Agency
announced an update to the “waters of the U.S.” rule that would reduce the wetlands covered by environmental policies and protections by 55 millions acres, or up to 85 percent of what’s currently covered. Under the Clean Water Act, companies must file permits for projects that could affect waters that are “relatively permanent.” The EPA wants to exclude streams, springs and other water sources that are seasonal or ephemeral.
November 10, 2025: EPA advocates looser reporting rules for ‘forever chemicals’An Environmental Protection Agency proposal would dial back regulations that require manufacturers to disclose the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting regulations in their products.
The proposal would exempt imported items, those being used for research and development and products where the concentration is lower than 01 percent.
October 24, 2025: Executive order overrides EPA emissions rule for copper smeltersPresident Donald Trump gave U.S. copper smelters
a two-year exemption from a May 2024 update by the Environmental Protection Agency that tightened emissions requirements. His rationale: the critical role that copper plays in the electric grid and semiconductors, and the need to decrease reliance on foreign producers.
August 15, 2025: Treasury Department rewrites ‘safe harbor’ rules for solar and wind constructionNew guidelines from the U.S. Treasury Department make it tougher for solar and wind farm developers to qualify for federal tax incentives under the
new Republican budget law. The rules, which take effect on Sept. 2, require proof of “physical work of a significant nature” to claim credits. Previously, developers could get “safe harbor” by spending 5 percent of the project cost before the deadline.
August 7, 2025: EPA shuts off information to critical climate databaseThe EPA said it would stop updating the
“Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions Factors” database, which is widely used by businesses to calculate the overall emissions from their products and operations. The agency earlier suspended the open-source database’s creator, along with 138 other employees who signed a letter criticizing the administration’s assault on climate science. The database will reportedly be maintained by a consortium that includes Stanford University
EPA cancels $7 billion solar program for low-income householdsEPA head Lee Zeldin said the agency would
defund the “Solar For All” program, established under President Joe Biden to provide $7 billion to low-income households to install solar power systems. Approved by Congress, the funding was awarded to states, tribes and regions for rooftop solar and community solar gardens.
August 1, 2025: Department of Interior acts to drastically limit new wind and solar projectsInterior Secretary Doug Burgum said the agency will “permit only energy projects that are the most appropriate use of the federal land and resources.” Specifically, the order would impose a limit on “capacity density” (i.e., mWh generated per acre of land) that would effectively
curtail the building of solar and wind projects on federal land.
July 8, 2025: High court allows federal firingsThe U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay from a lower court, clearing the way for the Trump administration to proceed with
mass layoffs across the federal government. Affected agencies include Health & Human Services (including the National Institutes of Health), EPA, Interior, Defense and Transportation.
June 18, 2025: Federal judge blocks EPA from cutting environmental justice grantsThe Environmental Protection Agency’s agenda to cut all Biden-era climate grants just hit a snag: A federal judge
blocked their attempt to cut an environmental justice program that housed $600 million in federal grants. The judge deemed the EPA’s attempt to cut the funds, which serve to lessen pollution in underserved areas, as “arbitrary, capricious, [and] an abuse of discretion.” The EPA is reviewing the decision.
June 11, 2025: Shutdown of climate.gov is anticipatedClimate.gov, the government’s public portal for consumer-friendly climate science, looks like it is about to join the
8,000 web pages that have already been taken down by the Trump administration since January. Most of the website’s staff were fired on May 31. “It does seem to be part of this sort of slow and quiet way of trying to keep science agencies from providing information to the American public about climate,” said Rebecca Lindsey, the former program manager of
climate.gov, who was let go in February.
June 9, 2025: Energy Secretary defends the LPOChris Wright, the Secretary of the Department of Energy,
stated during a conference that he is fighting for the survival of the department’s Loan Program Office (LPO). As Wright argued that the future of nuclear energy and transmission buildouts depended on the LPO, he made sure to agree with those who suggested that former President Biden had “abused” the loan program during his term.
May 30, 2025: DOE cancels billions in carbon capture awardsBringing that much closer to fruition President Trump’s plan to undo all decarbonization awards doled out by previous administrations, the Department of Energy announced that it was
cutting $3.7 billion worth of them. Companies impacted by the decision included Exxon Mobil Corp. and Ørsted.
May 22, 2025: House passes an even more anti-clean energy budget billThe Republican-led House
eked through a reconciliation bill that takes a machete to the clean energy credit program introduced in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. One particularly galling late-game amendment: clean energy projects would have to break ground within 60 days of the bill’s signing to qualify for the advanced manufacturing and investment tax credits. Such a mad dash would surely strain already weak and expensive supply chains.
May 20, 2025: New York offshore wind farm moves forwardDespite the Trump administration’s quite public hostility toward offshore wind power, New York’s Empire Wind 1 site
received federal approval to resume construction — halted a month earlier by the Department of the Interior. To get this go-ahead, Governor Kathy Hochul had to agree to the construction of a new natural gas pipeline.
May 19, 2025: DOE washes its hands of natural gas oversightThe
Department of Energy announced that mitigating — or even determining — the environmental toll of natural gas export terminals is outside of its jurisdiction. The decision was not informed by a 2024 study released by the Biden administration that detailed the extensive negative impacts of gas exports.
Nuclear power gets a bipartisan pushSenators from both sides of the aisle
introduced the International Nuclear Energy Act to increase funding for nuclear projects crucial to national security, while boosting exports and standardizing licensing in the sector. The move came as the Republican-led reconciliation bill, with its proposed cuts to the nuclear tax credits established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, worked its way towards a vote.
Some Republicans lobby to preserve clean energy creditsIn a late-night Sunday vote, the House Ways and Means Committee passed an updated version of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” the administration’s budget proposal that includes cutting many of the clean energy credits and funds established in the Inflation Reduction Act. After the vote, 14 GOP members
released a statement that read as a public beseeching, to
minimize some of those cuts and phaseouts and “ensure certainty for current and future energy investments.”
May 6, 2025: Trump ends Energy Star programThe Trump administration
cut the EPA’s Energy Star program, the country’s adjudicator of energy efficiency in home appliances. The program was only one of several casualties resulting from the elimination of the Climate Change division of the EPA.
100 staffers axed at National Renewable Energy LabThe National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) confirmed that
100 staff members had been let go, and all their projects halted. NREL is the Department of Energy’s primary “clean energy” incubator.
May 5, 2025: EPA gets okay to end Biden-era grantsA judge on the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island
ruled that the EPA could discontinue nearly 800 Biden-era grants, which fund hundreds of in-progress projects. The decision thwarted a coalition of nonprofits and conservationists that had sought an injunction against the sudden terminations of these legally approved awards.
May 2, 2025: Administration attempts to block anti-fossil fuel lawsuits The Department of Justice
filed lawsuits against Hawaii, Michigan, New York and Vermont in an effort to prevent those states from suing the fossil fuel industry. The states’ suits had looked to hold the industry accountable for the environmental and climate damage it had caused.
May 1, 2025: Senate comes for refrigerator energy standardsThe U.S. Senate voted 52-45 to
repeal a Biden-era rule that laid out clean energy standards for commercial refrigerators and freezers. The move was the latest box checked on the Republicans’ agenda to neutralize climate policy.
April 29, 2025: Businesses send open letter to plea for IRA clean energy creditsA group of over 100 companies sent
an open letter to Congress imploring for the retention of clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Republican-controlled House and Senate have made it very clear that cutting as many climate-related credits and funds in the IRA is their ultimate goal.
April 28, 2025: Administration cuts all workers connected to global warming reportNearly 400
researchers and scientists were “released from their roles” as contributors to the National Climate Assessment, a quadrennial analysis of global warming’s effects on the country. Mandated by Congress and currently gearing up for its sixth edition, the report was not shuttered, but it was unclear how it would be produced without the expertise of those let go.
EPA says it will set limits on “forever chemical” discharge levelsLee Zeldin announced that his agency will
officially set limits on the discharge of PFAS — “forever chemicals.” The rare positive environmental step contradicts the government’s usual penchant toward less regulation in a raft of previous orders.
April 25, 2025: Trump unilaterally sanctions deep-sea mining in international watersPresident Trump
signed an executive order directing federal agencies to fast-track permitting for commercial deep-sea mining. This decision comes after the U.S. walked away from ongoing global talks regarding deep-sea mining in international waters. Though many minerals necessary for technology reside on the ocean floor, scientists and environmental experts have long warned of the habitat destruction deep-sea mining will cause.
April 23, 2025: Interior Department curtails environmental reviews for fossil fuel projects on public lands
The U.S. Department of the Interior will implement “emergency permitting procedures” to speed the approval of mining and other projects relating to the production of energy and critical materials on public lands. The new procedures “will take a multi-year process down to just 28 days at most,” the department said. The changes effectively reduce environmental review to a “formality,” the Sierra Club noted in response to the news.
April 17, 2025: Trump sanctions commercial fishing in vast marine preserveThe White House proclaimed the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument, a 400,000 square mile ocean reserve west of Hawaii,
open for commercial fishing for the first time in more than a decade. Similar moves can be expected, as a separate
executive order called for a review of all protected ocean reserves. Blame trade imbalances (again): The U.S. imports more than 90 percent of its seafood, which, not surprisingly, did not sit well with the President.
April 15, 2025: Judge tells EPA to pony upEPA to In agreeing with Climate United’s claim that the EPA illegally terminated the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a U.S. district court judge ordered the
immediate unfreezing of all green bank funds, requiring the agency to distribute all withheld payments and, moving forward, maintaining regular access to the GGRF’s $20 billion.
April 14, 2025: USDA kills “climate slush fund”U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins
cited “sky-high” administrative costs as the rationale for canceling the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities, a Biden-era program that rewarded farmers for growing crops that reduce or sequester carbon dioxide. In reincarnating the program as the Advancing Markets for Producers initiative, the USDA planned to review existing climate-smart grants from a more “cost-conscious” perspective, possibly preserving them if at least one producer was enrolled and paid by Dec. 31, 2024, and at least 65 percent of funds were designated for producers.
Letter defends threatened Loan Programs OfficeThe Clean Energy Buyers Association, Nuclear Energy Institute and Direct Air Capture Coalition were among the 30 clean-tech companies, nonprofits and think tanks that signed
a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, arguing against the closing of his department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO). Should the LPO be closed, the letter said, it would undercut the administration’s goal of pursuing domestic “energy dominance” by ending funding to “commercial-scale infrastructure efforts that reduce electricity costs, bolster domestic production, and rebuild American industry.”
House Energy & Commerce committee set to investigate GGRFBrett Guthrie (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, announced his intentions to
investigate the embattled Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the congressionally allocated $20 billion provided to “green banks” in support of decarbonization projects across the country. The announcement came as one green bank, Climate United, awaited an imminent decision in
its case against the EPA, in which it sued the agency for illegally blocking grantees from accessing GGRF monies already promised to them.
April 10, 2025: GOP senators argue for energy tax credits In a
letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, four Republican senators — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Curtis (Utah), Thom Tillis (North Carolina) and Jerry Moran (Kansas) — expressed their support for energy tax credits passed under former President Joe Biden. “While we support fiscal responsibility and prudent efforts to streamline the tax code, we caution against the full-scale repeal of current credits, which could lead to significant disruptions for the American people and weaken our position as a global energy leader,” the senators wrote. If they vote their principles, the “clean energy four” would be enough to block the budget reconciliation bill.
April 9, 2025: Trump mandates expiration dates for dozens of energy and environmental rulesA confusingly named executive order — “
Zero-based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy” — required agency heads at the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and Department of Interior (and others) to set “sunset” dates for legacy rules that get in the way of the President’s obsession with expanding fossil fuels production. The order targeted dozens of policies that protect endangered species and federal lands, keep air and water clean, regulate nuclear waste and more.
Democrats blast Zeldin in letterOne hundred eighty congressional Democrats, nearly two-thirds of the party’s representation in the House and Senate, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
excoriating his policies and management of the agency. “In just two months as EPA Administrator, you have demonstrated a complete disregard for the central mission of the agency you were appointed to lead,” the letter said. “Instead of protecting the environment – as the agency name directs – you are protecting the special interests of big polluters. We urge you to halt your egregious attacks on the public health and well-being of the American people.”
Outlook dims for the nation’s premier climate reportNASA cut funding to the consultancy in charge of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which produces the nation’s signature climate report. Every four years, the
U.S. National Climate Assessment, as mandated by Congress, offers actionable intelligence for businesses about climate risks to supply chains, operations and infrastructure. The next version of the report, however, which is expected 2026 or 2027,
looks like the latest casualty in the administration’s war on climate science.
U.S jumps ship on international maritime decarbonization talksTrump administration officials abruptly
abandoned an international negotiation on cutting emissions associated with maritime trade. They did, however, leave behind a goodbye note on their way out the door of the London meeting. It threatened retaliatory charges should U.S. shipping incur any future fees, but still. In any case, a relatively small fleet of commercial ships sails under the U.S. flag.
April 8, 2025: Trump aims to kill states’ advances of renewablesA new executive order,
“Protecting American Energy From State Overreach,” called for the removal of “illegitimate impediments” to energy derived from fossil fuels, hydropower, nuclear, geothermal and critical minerals. This latest attempted imposition of federal power over local authority came as electricity generated by wind and solar —17 percent of the country’s energy total —
surpassed the amount produced by coal for the first time.
Executive order supports ultimate oxymoron: “beautiful clean coal”President Trump’s “
Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241” which also incorrectly classified the fossil fuel as a “mineral,” would designate new federal lands for future mining.
April 4, 2025
Administration cites wildfire risk to justify logging in national forestsU.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins adopted a plan that would open up almost 113 million acres in the National Forestry System to logging, following up on President Trump’s March 1 executive order to boost American timber production by 25 percent.
Her memo eliminated environmental regulations that could slow permitting and applies to more than half of all national forest land.
California governor announces plan to avoid Trump’s tariffsCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom announced in a short video that he is
working on a plan to insulate California from President Trump’s tariffs. Newsom touted California’s global position of 5th highest GDP as part of his reason to exclude California from the trade and consumer-prices burdens the tariffs will inflict.
April 2, 2025: Trump fires TVA board chairPresident Trump
fired the board chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), lowering its board count to four, one person shy of the mandatory bodies to make decisions. Funded by the federal government, TVA is the largest public utility in the country, providing low-cost power, economic development and environmental management to 10 million people across the Southeast.
April 1, 2025: Entire federal department providing power to low-income households eliminatedThe Trump administration
cut the entire staff of the Department of Health’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provided electricity, heat and cooling to millions of low-income families in an era of increasingly extreme temperatures. The administration has provided no guidance on how these people will keep the lights and the air conditioning on this summer.
March 29, 2025: Trump defies 1944 treaty with Mexico to provide water, endangering future of U.S. agricultureIgnoring the
1944 Utilization of Waters Treaty, President Trump denied Mexico’s request for water from the Colorado River. Refusing to uphold the treaty for the first time it was signed 81 years ago, Trump’s State Department
justified the decision by accusing Mexico of failing to uphold its end of the bargain, which is to deliver water from the Rio Grande river to the U.S. Trump’s unprecedented move to antagonize Mexico puts Texas-based agriculture at risk, as it relies upon Mexico’s water delivery system.
March 26, 2025: Trump announces hefty tariff on auto importsAs of April 3, all imported vehicles will be slapped with a
25 percent tariff; auto components get the same treatment a month later. Trump claimed the move would raise $100 billion a year. American-based automakers, though, immediately saw drops in their share prices.
March 25, 2025: Clean energy advocates storm the Hill — for tax creditsRepresentatives of the clean energy industry
took to Capitol Hill this week to lobby for the survival of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits. Many Republican representatives are open to hearing their constituents explain why those credits, created to spur economic growth, are actually necessary for their businesses’ success.
March 24, 2025: NIH to cease climate-related health fundingAlthough natural disasters are more prevalent than ever, the National Institutes of Health will no longer be funding research on the public health effects of climate change, according to
a review of its internal records by ProPublica. The consequences of the decision will be “devastating” and “catastrophic,” Dr. Lisa Patel, executive director of The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, told ProPublica.
March 21, 2025: Hegseth cuts Pentagon climate plans, but not extreme weather prevention measuresFurthering the Administration’s goal of gutting all federal climate planning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the
Pentagon to cancel its Climate Adaptation Plan. Although he gave assurances that the military’s extreme weather preparation would continue, critics pointed out that such preparation – military buildings, for instance, are designed to last 50 years – is dependent on just the kind of climate prediction the Pentagon will no longer be doing.
March 20, 2025: EPA employees’ anonymous letter calls out AdministrationFollowing the Trump administration’s
attempt to freeze congressionally approved funds already distributed by the Environmental Protection Agency, current agency employees
published an anonymous letter that accused the administration of illegal actions while exposing the real harm these actions cause. These harms include ending a George H.W. Bush-era environmental equity and justice program and shutting down projects midstream, causing the cancellation of contracts with local businesses and small companies.
Trump orders faster mining to boost critical minerals productionMoving one executive order closer to his 100-order goal — 93 and counting! — President Trump
authorized the faster issuance of mining permits on federal lands for copper, potash, gold and “any other element, compound or material” that protects the U.S. from “hostile foreign powers.” Currently, the U.S. is
almost 100 percent reliant on imports — especially from China — for many of these materials.
March 18, 2025: Judge disallows termination of $14 billion “green bank”In an unsurprising turn, U.S. District Court Judge Tonya Chutkan
prevented the EPA from squashing the Congressionally approved $14 billion earmarked for America’s “green bank,” a Biden-Era fund created by the Inflation Reduction Act. The judge, citing “vague and unsubstantiated assertions of fraud,” blocked Citibank – the private entity holding the funds – from moving the money to the government or anywhere else.
Judge blocks dismantling of U.S.A.I.D.U.S. District Court Judge Theodore D. Chuang ruled that DOGE’s attempted elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which promotes sustainable development in poorer countries, likely violated the Constitution “in multiple ways.” Chuang said Musk and his team usurped Congress’s authority over an agency it created and ordered them to cease all activity related to its shutdown.
Leaked memo reveals plan to gut most of EPA research armHouse Democrats reportedly saw plans to eliminate up to three-quarters of the EPA’s
1,540-person Office of Research and Development. These employees investigate a range of safety issues some of which have been deemed to be matters of “homeland security.” An agency spokeswoman described it all as “exciting steps as we enter the next phase of organizational improvements,”
according to The New York Times.
March 14, 2025: Republicans announce bill to thwart EU disclosure requirements The “PROTECT USA” Act, introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), would absolve U.S. companies from complying with the
European Union’s disclosure requirements on corporate sustainability due diligence, which Haggerty called “ideologically motivated regulatory overreach.” Exactly how Congress intends to invalidate other countries’ requirements is unclear.
Patagonia, REI, others protest ranger firingsPatagonia and REI Co-op joined 120 businesses and organizations in signing
a letter calling on the federal government to rehire thousands of employees of the Forest Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. The collection of contributors to the $1.2 trillion outdoor economy warned about weakened disaster response and wildfire management capabilities.
March 13, 2025
Judge orders Trump to rehire laid-off workersA federal judge
ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the thousands of government employees laid off due to their probationary status. Notably, the judge referred to the justification for the firings as a “sham.”
March 12, 2025: Gates-funded climate group reduces staff, shutters policy armBreakthrough Energy, the climate organization launched and bankrolled by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, slashed its staff and effectively
eliminated its U.S. policy operation, according to a report in The New York Times. A spokesperson did say the organization’s “work in this area will continue and is focused on helping drive reliable affordable, clean energy solutions that will enable people everywhere to thrive.”
EPA launches massive deregulation campaignIn announcing,
the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” EPA chief Lee Zeldin bragged that the overhaul would “roll back trillions in regulatory costs and hidden taxes on U.S. families.” That is debatable. What is not is that this undoing of many Obama- and Biden-Era regulations designed to improve air and water quality effectively renders moot the “P” in EPA.
March 10, 2025: America’s “green bank” sues EPA and Citibank for freezing fundingClimate United, one of the three coalitions selected by Biden’s EPA to lend $20 billion to local decarbonization projects — aka America’s “green bank” — sued Trump’s EPA head Lee Zeldin and Citibank for freezing the funds. According to Climate United, neither the EPA nor Citi produced evidence
to justify suspending the accounts.
China imposes retaliatory tariffsBeijing announced 15 percent duties on chicken, wheat and corn, and 10 percent on soybeans, pork, beef and fruit, in response to
Trump’s extra 10 percent blanket
tariff on Chinese goods.
March 7, 2025
U.S. backs out of Just Energy Transition Partnership The
$45 billion deal with EU and other nations helped Vietnam, South Africa and Indonesia forgo fossil fuels. The U.S. exit is another crack in the global climate policy environment.
March 06, 2025: Tariffs delayed againTrump’s on-again
tariffs went off again — for a month, at least — for goods from Mexico and Canada. For the moment, North American
supply chains for auto parts, dairy, steel, aluminum, machinery may proceed apace.
Judge unlocks funding for solar panels, grid upgrades and heat pumpsA second federal judge blocked as unconstitutional Trump’s
Jan. 27 funding freeze, of potentially trillions of dollars, including for
clean energy projects under the Inflation Reduction Act in 22 states. The U.S. has appealed.
Fired civil servants file suitThousands of
fired federal employees filed
class action appeals to reinstate their roles. As job
cuts rose by 245 percent in February, Trump put his cabinet leaders, rather than
Musk, in charge of
reductions in force. Musk’s
DOGE team has
cut more than 101,000 positions across the EPA, Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies.
EPA seeks to loosen safety rulesThe agency asked a federal court to undo 2024 rules that required
hazardous chemical plants to shore up safety in case of fires, floods and other weather extremes.
March 4, 2025: North American tariffs announced
Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada (10 percent on Canadian oil), rocking companies’ supply chains and threatening clean-energy projects.
March 1, 2025: Trump dramatically expands US timber productionAn executive order called upon the U.S. Forest Service, now headed by lumber industry veteran Tom Schulz, and the Bureau of Land Management to speed permitting processes, limit exemptions under endangered species law and review forest management practices, aiming to
“improve the speed of forestry projects.” Feb. 28, 2025: Trump berates Zelensky, at least in part to secure mineral rightsThe dramatic confrontation in the Oval Office scuttled a deal to continue U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort. The administration is trying to strike favorable deals on
Ukraine’s mineral resources, which are critical to clean tech such as solar panels and batteries..
Feb. 26, 2025: EPA reconsiders climate pollution stanceEPA Administrator Lee Zeldin moved to end the
agency’s endangerment finding, which has enabled regulation of climate pollutants under the Clean Air Act since 2009.
Feb. 25, 2025: Trump targets fundamental environmental lawThe White House Council on Environmental Quality issued a rule that would remove implementing regulations for the
National Environmental Policy Act, considered the “Magna Carta” of environmental law.
Public comments will close March 27.
Feb. 22, 2025: Government erases thousands of public datasetsBusiness-critical information was lost after some 3,400 out of 308,000 datasets were
wiped from Data.gov. Included in the erasure was demographic data used by energy companies to predict demand, historical weather data that helps insurers assess risk and climate patterns considered by developers in building infrastructure.
Feb. 18, 2025: Businesses unite in support of clean hydrogen incentiveAirbus, Dow and General Motors were among 100 signers of a
letter to Congress asking to keep the 45V tax credit, which helps fund development of hydrogen technologies.
Trump issues executive order to grab policy powerThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was among agencies targeted by “
Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” which effectively grants White House greater control over policymaking, undermining Congress’ original intent to shield independent agencies from political influence.
Feb. 7, 2025: Duties proceed for Chinese importsTrump changed his mind about ending a duty-free loophole on sub-$800 imports, stressing out
fast fashion brands. Three days earlier, 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports proceeded on top of 25 percent from the president’s first administration. The trade war leaves
circular economy advocates mulling the consequences for
domestic supply chains.
Feb. 4, 2025: DOGE overruns NOAA office
Members of Musk’s DOGE team barged into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Maryland headquarters and took control of its databases.
Jan. 27, 2025: Climate-Smart farming uprootedFarmers adopting practices to stash carbon in the soil and lower methane emissions were left holding the bag as Washington froze the USDA’s $3.1 billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities. Also iced: grants and loans for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which
helped farmers install solar panels and energy efficiency measures.
Jan. 20, 2025:
Trump Sharpies a battery of executive ordersOn Day 1, Trump inked 26
executive orders. Below are six that immediately change the
environment for sustainability professionals.
- Unleashing American Energy, which fast-tracked fossil fuel projects.
- Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements, once again ditched U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement, which many corporations continue to support.
- Declaring a National Energy Emergency, which prioritized development of new fossil fuel sources.
- Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing, which, among other things, put “environmental justice,” “climate crisis” and “chief diversity officer” on the list of phrases anyone who wants to do business with the federal government should avoid.
- Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, which revoked Biden’s executive orders, include erasing Justice40 efforts to help low-income communities. Also up in smoke: The White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and the National Climate Task Force.
- Establishing and Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency, which rebrands and retasks U.S. Digital Service.
- Bonus memo: “Putting People over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California”. The secretaries of Commerce and the Interior must move water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to southern California, even if it reduces supplies for Central Valley farmers, threatens salmon and smelt, and overrides state policy.
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LEIA TAMBÉM:
DE VOLTA ÀS TREVAS: as sombras da volta de TrumpNEGACIONISMO CLIMÁTICO DE TRUMP É UM CRIME CONTRA O PLANETA, MAS EUA SERÃO OS MAIORES PERDEDORES 
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