Washington, DC – January 20: President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford /The Washington Post via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump has launched a sweeping offensive on energy during his first hours in office, issuing a raft of executive orders to boost fossil fuel production and roll back U.S. commitments to fight climate change.
Trump declared a national energy emergency, arguing that the U.S. faces a “precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply, and an increasingly unreliable grid” that threatens national security. He ordered federal agencies to identify and exercise any lawful emergency authorities available to them to facilitate the production, transportation, refining and generation of domestic energy sources.
Trump also ordered the U.S. to begin withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and scrapped ambitious Biden administration goals that aimed for half of new cars sales to be electric vehicles, for the electric grid to be free of carbon pollution, and for the economy to produce net-zero emissions.
In addition, Trump issued an order to revoke Biden’s ban on oil and gas drilling in most U.S. coastal waters, and ordered federal agencies to prioritize the development of liquefied natural gas projects in Alaska. He also reversed the Biden administration’s pause on new liquefied natural gas export facilities.
Furthermore, Trump ordered all federal agencies to immediately pause the disbursement of funds under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-era climate law that has provided financial support for clean energy. He specifically ordered a halt to funding for electric vehicle charging stations and directed his administration to consider ending subsidies and other policies that favor electric vehicles.
Trump also targeted wind energy in a stand-alone executive order, temporarily suspending new or renewed leases for offshore and onshore wind projects, and halting the leasing of wind power projects in the outer continental shelf.
It is unclear what impact Trump’s initial actions will have on the energy industry, but the president has made a clear political statement that the U.S. is abandoning the Biden administration’s focus on fighting climate change through a transition to cleaner energy sources.