How Trump’s ‘economic revolution’ threatens green energy – and his fossil fuel devotees

Amid the turmoil of Donald Trump’s tariffs blitz, there are sobering but surprising consequences for the climate crisis. The transition to cleaner energy would be severely hampered by any extra costs tariffs would bring – but they would also threaten Trump’s desire for the fossil fuel industry to “drill, baby drill”.

Last week, the US president imposed heavy new tariffs on a litany of countries – even an island near Australia mostly inhabited by penguins – to correct what he sees as an unfair trade balance. However, on Wednesday Trump announced a surprise 90-day pause of his plans affecting most countries, while raising tariffs further on China.

The proposed tariffs themselves and the uncertainty caused by Trump’s vacillations have, understandably, alarmed those in clean energy, but they are also causing concern in the sector often closely aligned with Trump. More on how this “economic revolution” could affect the fossil fuel industry after this week’s most important reads.

“We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer,” Trump posted with characteristic understatement on Truth Social. “THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN.”

While the US clean energy sector is blossoming – almost all new power flowing to American grids this year will come from solar, wind and batteries – the vast majority of solar panels and wind turbine parts are imported. Tariffs could hike the cost of vital components needed for the world’s largest economy to shift away from planet-heating fossil fuels.

But while renewables developers fret about cancelled or scaled-back projects, hampering the task of slashing the carbon pollution that is driving climate disasters around the world, the threat of tariffs is also causing consternation within the sector most devoted to Trump: the fossil fuel industry.

Even though the Trump administration tariffs helpfully exclude oil and gas, companies still need steel, aluminium and other materials to build infrastructure such as pipelines and compressors. Several of the Asian countries affected by tariffs not only supply the goods needed by fossil fuel firms, they are also among those expected to increase their own oil consumption in the near future. That thirst for oil may now be dampened.

“Drill, baby, drill” is quickly becoming “stop, Donald, stop”. The stock market value of several oil and gas companies slumped at news of the tariffs, with the price of a barrel of crude oil plunging close to the $61 that is seen as the threshold of profitability before bouncing back slightly on Wednesday after Trump’s U-turn. Big oil executives who bankrolled Trump’s election with tens of millions of dollars aren’t happy.

“The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets. ‘Drill, baby, drill’ is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry,” one executive told the Dallas Fed last month, before the latest tariffs came into force. “I have never felt more uncertainty about our business in my entire 40-plus-year career,” said another.

Given the unpredictability of the impact of tariffs – and of Trump himself – it’s unclear how all this will affect the broader fight to tackle the climate crisis. Even when there is a temporary industry snarl-up, such as the impact of Russia invading Ukraine, the fossil fuelled status quo often quickly reimposes itself.

But if the global economy does slow down, that means less consumption of oil, gas and coal, as well as painful hardship for people. Americans might buy fewer cars of all types. Tariffed countries may divert solar panels from a walled-off US to other countries, hastening their own clean energy transition. Perhaps Donald Trump is secretly a growth-sceptic greenie.

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Profiling an inspiring individual, suggested by Down to Earth readers

An actor by trade, upon reading about the global perils facing bumblebees in 2010, Leigh Biagi was so moved to help that she undertook a degree in environmental studies to learn to make a difference.

After graduating, she set up On the Verge, an ongoing project that provides practical support and advice to schools and communities on protecting native wildflowers and creating bee-friendly habitats.

That work led to joining RePollinate, a charity that works to support pollinator populations across the UK. “We will plant herbs, shrubs and trees and restore natural wildlife and encourage a diversity of pollinators,” Biagi says. “We hope these will be spaces that both people and pollinators can enjoy.”

“As time goes on, we are hoping to develop other projects to roll out, but for the time-being, our aim is to establish a network of bee beds throughout the country and to help encourage a culture change around the aesthetic of urban environments, moving away from a desire for neat and tidy order, to a higher tolerance for a slightly more relaxed approach that puts nature at its heart,” she adds.

Nominated by reader Meredith Muirhead

If you’d like to nominate a climate hero, email downtoearth@theguardian.com

Demystifying a climate concept you’ve heard in the headlines

An air pollutant, formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. As well as contributing to the climate emergency, black carbon emissions can have a serious impact on our health.

For more Guardian coverage of black carbon, click here

One image that sums up the week in environmental news

Credit: Stathis Roussos/Reuters

Just weeks before Easter would usually bring a rush of tourists, Greece’s Aegean islands are reeling after flash floods turned the idyllic landscapes of island such as Paros (pictured above) into a “lake of mud”.

“Climate breakdown is causing extreme rainfall to become more common and more intense across most of the world, and flooding has most probably become more frequent and severe in these locations as a result,” Helena Smith reports.

“But the devastation at tourist destinations that, thanks to the rise in global travel, increasingly draw record numbers has also highlighted Greece’s lack of preparedness in dealing with natural disasters.”

For more of the week’s best environmental pictures, catch up on The Week in Wildlife here