Trump launches immediate attack on climate, renewables and EVs. How worried should we be?

Donald Trump, newly installed for his second term as president of the United States, has directed his government to begin a withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and taken aim at a wide swathe of pro-environment and clean energy policies put in place by the outgoing Biden administration.

Within the first few hours of being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump signed off on a deluge of executive orders – directives to manage operations that are often used as a means of deploying presidential power without the need for Congress.

In his run for the presidency, Donald Trump took aim at everything from sharks and batteries (at times together) to “windmills”, electric vehicles, international treaties, and financial support for clean energy projects.

In this vein, many of the executive orders signed during Trump’s first few hours in office were performed as a sort of political theatre broadcast live to thousands of delighted MAGA supporters watching from the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington.

Among the orders – which covered everything from attempting to save TikTok, forcing government employees to return to in-person work, something to do with the architecture of public buildings, and reinstating the federal death penalty – Trump took the axe to the country’s environmental and clean energy transport policies.

Here’s what we know – and an early look into what it all might mean, for the climate and clean energy in US and the rest of the world.

Trump has begun dismantling America’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Here’s why Australia may not follow suit

It’s been a significant day for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the United States.

Such initiatives are about providing equality of opportunity and a sense of being valued for all members of an organisation. But a backlash has been brewing for years, led by some familiar, newly emboldened voices on the right.

Now, freshly inaugurated US President Donald Trump has begun to dismantle them, announcing:

This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.

Trump has just signed a raft of executive orders that will end DEI programs within the federal government. He has also taken actions to proclaim as official US policy that there are only two genders, male and female.

Anticipating Trump’s return to office, many high-profile companies in the US had already announced a rollback of DEI initiatives – including retail giant Walmart.

Could this backlash spill over into Australia? We are seeing some signs of resistance to such initiatives already. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton certainly isn’t a fan of DEI.

There are, however, reasons to believe DEI will remain an important focus in Australian workplaces. Some major achievements have already been made, many now enshrined in law.