Heading the wrong direction on our climate
- sciart0
- Jun 27
- 3 min read
Excerpt to first link above: As record heat waves hit much of the U.S., the Senate is about to pass a bill that will decimate clean energy—and take away our best shot at curbing extreme weather and climate disasters. But while the headlines are dire, most Americans don’t realize how close we are to a thriving clean energy economy—and what a dramatic impact that would have on averting the worst impacts of climate change.
THE CLEAN ENERGY REVOLUTION
I served in the White House Climate Policy Office under President Biden. Since leaving the White House, it has become painfully clear that we failed to convince the American people of the urgency of the climate crisis and that clean energy is our path to a secure, thriving future. Yet in the background, the U.S. has quietly launched a clean energy revolution—in March, for the first time in U.S. history, clean energy generated more electricity than fossil fuels in a single month.
Twice as many Americans now work in clean energy than in fossil fuels. In the past four years, the U.S. catalyzed over $860 billion in private clean energy investments and announced 400,000 new clean energy jobs. And we were reigning in the climate crisis, on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% by 2030 and by 100% by 2050.
But that progress is now being threatened—and there will be profound consequences. To pay for Trump’s tax cuts for the richest Americans, Congress is on the verge of passing a budget bill that will add $3 trillion to the deficit, gut the clean energy economy, and eliminate our chance at averting future climate disasters. But it hasn’t passed yet. And it’s not too late to try to convince Congress to back off these extreme measures.
GIVING CHINA A LEG UP
By harnessing sun, wind, and other clean sources, the U.S. was on track for 100% of our electricity to come from clean energy by 2035. In the past four years, the U.S. doubled solar power, enough to run 40 million homes. Last year, 93% of new electricity generation came from clean energy. In that same period, $127 billion was invested in 900 new clean manufacturing facilities—most in red states—to produce everything from wind turbines and heat pumps to electric vehicles.
Now, just five months into the Trump administration, the Republican budget bill will end that growth if it’s passed by Congress. It will eliminate tax credits that help families, schools, and churches cut their energy bills with solar, geothermal, and energy efficiency. The EV tax credit will end. The bill kills solar and wind farms, eliminates hundreds of thousands of jobs, undermines U.S. manufacturing, and gives China a leg up on clean energy.
Meanwhile, it expedites permits for dirty, higher-cost fossil fuels. In exchange for tax breaks for the wealthiest, Trump will increase consumer energy costs and hurt national security. In anticipation, solar companies that were thriving six months ago are now going bankrupt and laying off workers. At stake are almost a million existing and new jobs through 2030, over $522 billion in planned clean energy investments, and our opportunity to curb future climate disasters.
MAINTAINING LEGACY POWER
Today’s political crisis is about consolidating and maintaining legacy power and money.
During his campaign, Trump made a deal with fossil fuel executives that for $1 billion in campaign donations he’d decimate environmental regulations, expedite oil and gas permits, expand their tax advantage, and cut the clean energy economy off at its knees.
Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, oil and gas lobbying has grown 75-fold. In 2023, when consumer energy bills skyrocketed and climate disasters caused $182.7 billion in damages, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP’s profits exceeded $100 billion.