President Trump’s energy agenda calls for drilling more oil and gas, something that could take years. But he took other actions this week that could more quickly affect the way the country prepares for and adapts to climate changes driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
Safeguarding the nation.
In 2021, President Biden ordered the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security to study the security implications of climate change and to incorporate them into defense strategy and other national security plans.
In response, the Pentagon, Homeland Security and the intelligence community detailed how food shortages could lead to social unrest, how countries may fight over dwindling water supplies and how people would flee climate shocks in places like Latin America, increasing migration to the United States.
President Trump rescinded that order on Monday. That doesn’t prevent the Defense Department from considering climate change in its planning. But Pete Hegseth, Mr. Trump’s pick for defense secretary, has made comments that are dismissive of climate change, calling it an effort to establish government control.
Keeping the government running.
Mr. Biden also directed each federal agency to publicly report the risks that climate change poses to government facilities and operations. They were also asked to explain how they were addressing those risks and the progress made.
The Smithsonian Institution, for example, revealed in 2021 that flooding threatened several of its museums on the National Mall, including the National Museum of American History.
Under President Trump, agencies are no longer required to assess their exposure to climate change or figure out how to address it.
Understanding climate risks to home insurance.
In 2021, President Joe Biden ordered the Treasury Department to examine the threat that climate risks pose to home insurance. After fighting with state officials and insurance companies to get the data, the department issued its report last Thursday, finding that climate change has already made home insurance both harder to find and more expensive.
Without insurance, banks won’t issue a mortgage; without a mortgage, most people can’t afford a house. That means the loss of insurance coverage is likely to drive down home prices, especially in the areas with the greatest risk of disasters fueled by climate change.
Under the Biden administration, the Treasury Department planned to issue similar reports annually, to track any further deterioration in the market. Four days after the Treasury Department issued its report, Mr. Trump revoked the order driving that work.
Protecting federally funded projects from floods.
President Barack Obama established a policy that directed federal agencies to avoid investing in projects that were likely to be damaged by flooding. When President Trump first took office in 2017, he revoked it. President Biden Jr. reinstated it. On Monday, President Trump revoked it, again.
Under Mr. Biden, the Federal Emergency Management Agency specified that projects built with FEMA money must be elevated above the expected height of a flood, or built in a safer location. The Department of Housing and Urban Development enacted similar rules.
Other agencies were slower to act. Homebuilders in particular opposed the rule, arguing that it would raise costs and that local governments are best equipped to address local risks. Now that the order has been revoked, it’s unlikely that other agencies would impose similar flood standards.
Helping vulnerable communities.
President Biden directed the Council on Environmental Quality, an office within the White House, to ensure that some federal investments in climate resilience would help communities that are disproportionately affected by air and water pollution. The goal was to direct at least 40 percent of certain federal investments, including clean energy and climate resilience funds, to those communities, which are often disadvantaged minority areas.
Critics derided the program as a type of reverse discrimination. A similar plan run by Harris County in Texas, which prioritized flood protection projects in poor Houston neighborhoods, also sparked a backlash.
Research shows that low-income communities tend to be exposed to flooding, storms and other extreme weather driven by climate change and are also less likely to receive federal help than wealthier areas. That’s because grants are often awarded based in part on property values, which gives wealthier communities an advantage. There are some indications that the Biden program had begun to chip away at that disparity.
Mr. Trump ended it.
