Trump's attack on climate

Inside Climate News - Activists across the United States say they’re preparing to take the federal government to court after President Donald Trump unveiled a series of executive orders that seek to undo much of his predecessor’s climate and environmental justice legacy. 

The executive orders, which Trump signed just hours after his second term began, target some of President Joe Biden’s key accomplishments, including the Justice40 Initiative. That program, which many advocates hailed as a major breakthrough for the environmental justice movement, directed federal agencies to deliver at least 40 percent of the “overall benefits” of their environmental and energy spending to “disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized and overburdened by pollution and underinvestment.  Many government websites put up during Biden’s term, including the official Justice40 page and the White House environmental justice page, have been removed since Trump took office. 

 Other Biden initiatives that the Trump administration moved to reverse include:

Two executive orders that directed federal agencies to explicitly take environmental justice into account when spending funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or the Inflation Reduction Act; 

One executive order that set a national goal to dramatically increase the sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. by 2030;

And one executive order that established the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, as well as offered federal assistance to struggling coal communities as the country transitions to cleaner energy sources.