But its repeal of regulations to limit global warming is one of the most obvious ways to erase a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's legacy.
Regardless of what will happen in the 2020 presidential election, critics say Trump has already cemented an environmental legacy that will be felt by future generations.
"It locks irreversible and irreversible damage into our environment through its irresponsible environmental policies, including its efforts to block progress on climate change," said Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Science. atmosphere at Penn State University and director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. "Once we have passed the critical points, the melting of the main ice caps, there is no turning back."
Here is an overview of the most important setbacks in Trump's climate policy:
Weakening of fuel economy standards
Last year, the New York Times announced that the Trump government was seeking to relax the criteria for fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions, which would annihilate the economy. One of the flagship climate initiatives of Obama.
If the proposed change comes into force, it could have serious consequences for the planet: transportation emits more greenhouse gases than any other sector of the US economy, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
But California and several other states have taken legal action to block the change, and there are signs that even some automakers do not agree with Trump's backtracking.
Replacement of the own diet plan
By boosting electricity utilities and the troubled coal industry, Trump's decision to replace Obama's Clean Energy Plan could have serious consequences for the health of the country. Man and the planet.
The CPP has imposed flexible limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and, according to the analysis of the Obama EPA, would have reduced the CO2 emissions of generators by 32% per year. compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
The replacement of the CPP by Trump calls the rule of affordable clean energy and allows states to set their own emissions standards for coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, touted the plan, saying it gave the electricity companies the regulatory certainty needed to continue cutting emissions. and to provide affordable and reliable energy to all Americans. "
But the new rule could cost American lives. According to the EPA's own analysis, the Trump diet could result in 1,400 more premature deaths by 2030 compared to the CPP. Many states and cities are also suing to prevent the new regulations from coming into effect.
Opening of public lands and offshore waters to oil and gas drilling
Many scientists warn that it is essential to keep fossil fuels in the ground to cope with the climate crisis. But the Trump administration has moved the United States in the opposite direction, opening up vast expanses of land and water off oil and gas drilling.
In 2017, the administration has reduced by 51% and 85%, respectively, two national monuments of Utah – the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and the Bear Ears. According to a study published in the journal Science, these moves have removed the protected area status from twice the size of Rhode Island and become part of the largest reduction in public land in the history of the United States. United. The changes open areas removed from national monuments to oil and gas development, but both decisions face challenges in the courts.
The administration has also lobbied to open Alaska's Arctic Wildlife Reserve for oil and gas exploration, as well as for waters off the east and pacific coasts and in the US. 39; Arctic.
"Pipeline projects potentially block the long-term extraction of natural gas and oil, and thus have a very long legacy that will go beyond the next administration," Mann said.
Withdraw from the Paris climate agreement
Trump's decision in 2017 to pull the United States out of the Paris climate deal, which has been signed by almost every country in the world, has dealt a severe blow to the global response to the climate crisis.
The decision sent a message to the rest of the world that the United States – which can legally leave the deal by 2020 – would not lead the global fight against climate change. And studies have shown that this decision has global implications: a report from last year revealed that Trump's decision had made it easier for other countries to return to their climate commitments.
Easing restrictions on methane emissions
Last week, Trump's EPA announced it would no longer require oil and gas companies to install monitoring devices to detect methane leaks from new wells, reservoirs and pipelines.
At a time when the United States has become the world's largest producer of natural gas and oil, the movement is important because of the power of the heat trapping capabilities of methane. Although gas does not last in the atmosphere as long as CO2, one tonne of methane has a global warming potential of 84 to 87 times greater than the same amount of CO2 over a 20-year period.
Delay ratification of a hydrofluorocarbon treaty
Another key global deal to limit global greenhouse gases came into effect earlier this year, but Trump still has not sent the agreement to the Senate to ratify it.
The treaty calls the Kigali amendment and deals with a little known but very powerful greenhouse gas class called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which is used in refrigerators and air conditioners. Gases are sometimes called "super greenhouse gases" because of their ability to capture huge amounts of heat in the atmosphere. They have a warming potential more than 1,000 times higher than that of carbon dioxide.
Project Drawdown, an organization that offers solutions to combat climate change, found that phasing out these chemicals would be the most effective solution to fight global warming – more than eating less meat, to drive electric cars or switch to renewable energy.
Ellie Kaufman, Gregory Wallace, Jen Christensen, Kevin Liptak, Jim Acosta, Mark Tutton and Veronica Stracqualursi from CNN contributed to this report.
