Analysts say Trump will shake up US energy and climate policy

However, a second Trump administration will not be able to stop the country’s transition to cleaner energy sources, analysts and activists say. The cost of many of these technologies is falling rapidly. Companies are under pressure from their customers and investors to act on climate change. And states led by both Democrats and Republicans reap economic benefits from new factories and power plants that received government support.

“It’s not that our jobs haven’t gotten harder” since Trump’s re-election, said Mindy Lubber, executive director of Ceres, a nonprofit that advocates for clean energy. “But there is a legitimate vein of opportunism, entrepreneurial spirit, new jobs, new economics, business people, entrepreneurs, business school leaders who are saying, ‘We need to fight climate change because of the financial risks.’ , material risk and, of course, human risk.”

Other human rights groups supported Lubber.

“There’s no denying that another Trump presidency will set back the nation’s efforts to address the climate crisis and protect the environment, but most U.S. state, local and private sector leaders are committed to moving forward,” Dan Lashoff, director of the U.S. World Resources Administration. Institute,” it said. “And you can count on a chorus of world leaders reaffirming that they will not turn their backs on climate and nature goals.”

Jason Grumet, executive director of a trade group called the American Clean Energy Association, noted that there was a lot of investment and growth in the wind and solar industries during Trump’s first term.

“Private sector investment in clean energy is creating jobs and economic opportunity for small towns and rural communities across the country, while hundreds of new plants have come online in states where too many good jobs have been moved overseas,” it says. Grumet’s statement. He said the industry is “ready to work with the Trump-Vance administration and the new Congress to continue this great American success story.”

However, Lubber cautioned that while companies may not abandon their climate initiatives, they may be reluctant to advertise them.

And this can have consequences.

“Leading companies often help companies that aren’t as far along in their thinking understand why something is worth doing,” Rich Lesser, global chairman of Boston Consulting Group, told NPR before the election. “If leading companies act responsibly in a way that benefits them, but they don’t feel they can talk about it, we won’t be able to help the wider range of companies understand why they should embrace it too.