Trump planning to withdraw from Paris climate agreement
Donald Trump is preparing to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement when he returns to office in January.
The president-elect’s team has already prepared an executive order that would see the US leave the international treaty, which commits countries to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions.
More executive orders have been prepared for Mr Trump to sign when he re-enters the White House that would shrink the size of national monuments to allow more drilling and mining, The New York Times reports.
It is one of the first signs of how Mr Trump plans to undo the legacy of Joe Biden, who has frequently touted his administration’s green credentials and spent billions of dollars on renewable energy projects.
Mr Biden signed the US up to the Paris accord on his first day in office after Mr Trump withdrew from it during his first term in 2017.
Mr Trump’s election victory on Tuesday gave him a “mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail”, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the transition team, told Reuters.
She added: “He will deliver.”
End pause on LNG
On the campaign trail, Mr Trump repeatedly pledged to unleash oil production, telling rally crowds that he would “drill, baby, drill”. The policy will see energy prices halved within 12 months of his taking office, he claimed.
Mr Trump is also expected to end the pause on permitting new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to big markets in Asia and Europe, and revoke a waiver that allows states like California to have tighter pollution standards.
Mr Biden paused approvals of new LNG exports in January in order to complete a study on their environmental and economic impact.
Gavin Newsom, the California governor, said on Thursday that he would fight any attempt by the incoming president to slash his state’s environmental regulations in the courts.
“Whether it be our fundamental civil rights, reproductive freedom, or climate action – we refuse to turn back the clock and allow our values and laws to be attacked,” he said.