Fighting for the environment in the United States, despite the return of Trump

With Donald Trump back in office, the United States has once again withdrawn from the Paris Climate Agreement. One of the world's biggest polluters is thus once again evading its commitments to limit its greenhouse gas emissions.

Faced with this predictable decision, some players in American society are reacting now so that the world's leading power continues to contribute to the fight against climate change.

Following Trump's decision, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he would personally contribute to international climate finance, instead of the federal government.

The billionaire will take charge of American financing of the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change, which is notably the initiative of the COPs, the annual international climate conferences.

Michael Bloomberg will therefore provide 20% of the budget of this organization from his personal funds, the operating costs of which have been estimated at 88.4 million euros for the years 2024 and 2025, as indicated by the French publication Libération.

“Bloomberg Philanthropies and other U.S. climate funders will work to ensure the United States meets its global climate obligations,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

In 2017, during the previous American withdrawal from the Paris Accords under Donald Trump's first term, the businessman had already donated $15 million to support the branch of the UN responsible for the ecological transition.

Furthermore, he launched with the former governor of California, Jerry Brown, the America's Pledge on Climate Change initiative which brings together local authorities and American companies committed to the environment.

“In the wake of the Trump Administration’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, an unprecedented number of U.S. cities, states, businesses, and universities have reaffirmed their commitment to helping America reach its Paris climate goals,” the America’s Pledge website states.

2017 also saw the creation of the America is All In initiative, a coalition of governors, mayors, businesses and NGOs dedicated to combating climate change.

Reactivated after Trump's return to the White House, this coalition is "already on a war footing," according to Rachel Cleetus, the political director of the climate and energy program of the Association of Concerned Scientists, quoted by France 24.

In a country like the United States, the federated states have significant resources to launch their own climate policies. An emergency in California, whose territory has just been devastated by terrible fires!

As France Inter reports, the most populous American state is trying to impose its own standards regarding polluting vehicles, with the aim of banning combustion engines by 2035.

The administration of Joe Biden, who has just left power, has launched hundreds of billions of dollars in public investment in infrastructure and green technology that will last until 2030.

However, "80% of investments linked to the development of renewable energies, and therefore to this Inflation Reduction Act, benefit Republican states" in terms of jobs and income, according to Gautam Jain, a specialist in financing the energy transition at Columbia University.

"Some Republicans have already called for not going back on this measure and Trump could find himself facing bipartisan opposition," adds this specialist, quoted by France 24. Will the White House soon suffer a revolt from its own party?

Former Democratic Vice President Al Gore and 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry remain two iconic political figures in the United States' environmental movement.

Beyond the political and economic world, some American celebrities have long been committed to protecting the environment. One of the most famous is none other than Leonardo DiCaprio, co-founder of the NGO Earth Alliance.

The Hollywood star has donated millions of dollars to the Amazon in 2019 and to fire-ravaged Australia in 2020, while also trying to raise awareness for environmental issues.

“Climate change is real; it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating,” the actor said when he accepted his Oscar for 'The Revenant' in 2016.

For another Hollywood icon, Robert Redford, the defense of the cause does not date from the election of Donald Trump. The actor had indeed recalled that he had been committed to the climate for 40 years during the Republican's first election, in 2017.

An honorary member of the NGO Green Cross International, Robert Redford has given several notable speeches to raise awareness of climate change, notably at the United Nations General Assembly and at COP 21, which led to the Paris Agreement in 2015.

As Rachel Cleetus, the policy director and lead economist for the Union of Concerned Scientists’ climate and energy program, told the LA Times, "Withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a travesty. Such a move is in clear defiance of scientific realities and shows an administration cruelly indifferent to the harsh climate change impacts that people in the United States and around the world are experiencing." With or without the federal government, the United States continues the fight against global climate change!

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