The government is withdrawing grants and other support for research that even references the climate crisis, academics have said, amid Donald Trump’s blitzkrieg upon environmental regulations and clean-energy development.
A developing Trump administration plan for deep staff cuts and drastic changes at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is raising alarm among some state officials and even Republican lawmakers, who worry that it will weaken responses to future disasters.
The change would effectively transfer financial responsibility from oil drillers, auto manufacturers and others and leave Americans to face greater direct costs as warming continues.
Despite the cuts to clean energy incentives, experts say certain sorts of projects could continue to get support at the state and federal level.
California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, has already filed several lawsuits against federal agencies, and said at a recent news conference that Trump has been “spitting in the face of our democracy” by refusing to comply with a court order to release congressionally mandated funds for clean energy and other priorities.
While geo-engineering like cloud seeding isn’t a secret, there’s not yet a consensus as to whether it will do more harm than good.
The election of Donald Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, and a pushback against so-called environmental, social and governance investing by US Republican governors, has prompted many large asset managers to back away from public support for corporate action on global warming.
Iowa joins other GOP-led states that have looked to ban the controversial "geoengineering" concept of counteracting climate change.
Since the inauguration, billionaires who funded climate action over the last decade have avoided criticizing Trump’s climate policies.