Trump has paused and/or ended emissions reduction policies.

As of June 2025, the United States government’s Environmental Protection Agency has not released a report on its greenhouse gas emissions since the beginning of the year. However, it is essential to note the current Trump administration’s efforts to promote fossil fuel utilization and its decision to reduce incentives for electric vehicles, as reported in The New York Times in January 2025. Trump declared a national “energy emergency” through an executive order once he took office, where he claimed that the United States hasn’t been fully realizing its energy resources. He also stated that the Biden administration had made use of “a precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply.” 

Despite Trump’s statement, there has been a precedent set in cases heard by the Supreme Court that prevents a president from initiating a stated, generic “emergency” regarding energy utilization. The president would have to invoke specific laws regarding each type of energy development, production, and utilization, which would need to be individually applied through detailed executive orders.

However new policies and procedures have been established to increase emissions in the United States since Trump took office. Trump has paused funding that was fueled by the Inflation Reduction Act and has again withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Agreement. Although Trump’s policies suggest that the US will focus on fossil fuel production over the next four years, it does not change the amount of fossil fuels that have been used since Biden took office. Under the Biden administration, fossil fuel production reached an all-time high in the United States. Despite this, the majority-Republican House and Senate are considering passing a bill that would target the end of specific renewable energy-friendly policies, such as eliminating tax credits for electric vehicles.

Overall, since the EPA has not reported on the United States’ energy usage since the beginning of this current administration, it is likely that fossil fuel utilization will continue to increase, as renewable energy sources decrease. There will most likely be no progress made in reaching goals to mitigate emissions and address climate change. 

I give the United States a current rating of a “D”, indicating that we, as a nation, are going backward. As the US continues to moonlight as a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions, it is easy to deduce that the outlook is not good for addressing environmental concerns that the rest of the world continues to have. It is now up to individual citizens themselves to make changes in the United States through advocacy, grassroots community organizing, and the convening of like-minded everyday people to move policy and popular opinion —a difficult yet not unreachable feat.

This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard US Country Manager, Abby Carlson.