Donald Trump: The Accidental Environmentalist
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
By driving oil prices through the roof, he’s unintentionally given renewable energy a significant global boost.
Donald Trump calls climate change a “hoax,” a “scam,” and a “con job.” He has (twice) withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate agreement, and he has pulled the plug, or tried to, on “the Green New Scam,” which is what he calls President Joe Biden’s extensive subsidies to alternative energy in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Trump’s energy motto is “Drill, Baby, Drill” and he has showered the petroleum industry with $80 billion in generous subsidies, and his Iran war is delivering sky-high windfall profits to the oil industry.
Nevertheless, Trump is inadvertently boosting the fortunes of alternative energy to a degree not seen since Biden was president. By attacking Iran, Trump prompted that nation’s ruling regime (very predictably) to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has made it unaffordable for many Americans to fill their gas tanks. That’s bad. But the good news is that sky-high gas prices are a blessing to the environment and shows that every cloud really does have a silver lining. “Renewable Energy Is Booming Again,” says Barron’s. “Trump May Not Be a Fan of Clean Energy, But Iran War is Accelerating Global Shift From Oil and Gas,” says The Guardian. "Renewables Boost: First Putin, Now Trump," reported OGN Daily. “The Iran War Is Driving a Clean Energy Wake-Up Call,” says the climate-focused Canary Media. You can call it “The Only Good News From Iran” (New York Times), or you can call it “Donald Trump’s Green New Deal” (Financial Times).
UN secretary-general António Guterres commented: “The resources of the clean-energy era cannot be blockaded or weaponised,” he said. “There are no price spikes for sunlight and no embargoes on the wind. The fastest path to energy security, economic security and national security is clear: speed up a just transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.”
It is not widely known but world demand for oil in transport peaked in 2019 and is already in absolute decline, says The Telegraph. The war in the Gulf is now pushing the process. It is hard to conclude that Donald Trump’s “excursion” is anything other than an utter disaster for the long-term interests of Opec, Russia and shale frackers in Texas. “This is the first time we’ve ever had an oil crisis when there is an alternative on hand and it is easily available,” says Kingsmill Bond, energy director at Ember.