FROM THE EDITOR
now for nuclear?
What
Although the Trump administration has established a number of important measures that favour the development of nuclear power, by undermining action on climate the US could fundamentally weaken the global case for nuclear.
resident of the United States Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for climate science. In the early part of this year his vocal contempt for the very well-established facts as they relate to anthropogenic climate change has been engendered in multiple concrete acts. Trump saw
the new year in for example by withdrawing the US from more than 60 international organisations. This included the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that underpins international efforts to combat global warming. Upon returning to office in 2025, Trump had immediately initiated withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time. He has now followed that by pulling the US from many of the organisations which work to combat climate change and 31 of which are UN entities. A statement from the White House described these entities as operating “contrary to US national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty”. In particular “many of these bodies promote radical climate policies” the White House said. As part of its move to cut ties, the US also pulled out of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the body for assessing climate change science which provides governments with the information to support climate policy. While this decision was predictable, Trump followed it by overturning a key scientific ruling that underpins the entire federal approach to greenhouse gases or as he describes it “the legal foundation for the Green New Scam”.
The Obama-era “endangerment finding” established the position that a number of greenhouse gases were in fact a threat to public health. However, Trump announced its full revocation and the consumer mandates that depended on it. Described by the White House as the “largest deregulation in American history”, the decision was welcomed by coal lobby group America’s Power. President and CEO Michelle Bloodworth, said: “EPA’s Endangerment Finding has been used as the basis for regulations that threaten the reliability of our nation’s electric grid. These regulations, such as President Obama’s Clean Power Plan and President Biden’s Clean Power Plan 2.0, were designed to force the premature retirement of coal power plants across the US and increase our nation’s reliance on electricity sources that are not as reliable as coal”. At the same time, the US government has weighed in with clear indications of support for coal in power generation. In an executive order (EO) made in mid- February and following from EOs titled ‘Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry’ for example, the White House recently stated: “It is the policy of the United States that coal is essential to our national and economic security, and that our electric grid must use power generation resources that have abundant fuel supplies capable of extended operations to address the national emergency declared”. While this is a far from exhaustive list of the Trump administration’s retrograde actions on addressing climate change it clearly details the tenor of its direction. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that Trump has also taken action to strengthen the role of nuclear power in the US energy economy. However, US withdrawal from global bodies focused on climate action will certainly weaken them and undermine their effectiveness. Given that one of the key advantages of nuclear is its reliable, climate- friendly generation profile it seems that US policy overall will actually undermine the broader global case for nuclear. It is therefore critical that Europe, Asia and the America’s continue to hold the course on climate change, looking beyond the next three years to a time when climate science may again have a voice in the world’s strongest economy. ■
David Appleyard
www.neimagazine.com | March 2026 | 3
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