President-elect Donald Trump is set to enter the White House again this month with a promise to boost the fossil fuel industry, deregulate the energy sector and generally hinder climate progress. The impact of a Trump presidency, already seen in the difficult negotiations at COP29, will pose a major challenge to climate action in 2025.

As the biggest per capita greenhouse gas emitter in the world, the US is expected to substantially decrease its carbon footprint. However, Trump has already made it clear that he will prioritise fossil fuel production, withdraw the U.S from the Paris Climate Agreement, and undo any progress for climate change initiated by President Biden.

Trump reinforced his alignment with the fossil fuel sector when recently criticising the UK’s energy policy and plan to move oil and gas production away from the North Sea. The North Sea is one of the oldest offshore oil and gas basins, which has recently become one of the world’s largest offshore wind regions. Trump posted to his Truth Social media site that the British government was “making a very big mistake” and should “get rid of windmills”.

The Trump administration has also taken aim at the next instalment of the National Climate Assessment, hoping to dial back scientific rigor and insert more viewpoints from climate science denialists. Conservative politician, Russell Vought, is set to lead Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and has long sought to buy or weaken the National Climate Assessment. Vought calls for the White House to have greater influence over process, such as giving OMB the power to vet scientists working on the next assessment.

With Donald Trump’s inauguration taking place on 20^th January, the first one hundred days of his presidency will be crucial in gauging how his policies will take shape.

In Irish news:

• RTÉ highlighted climate change as a big threat to Ireland in 2025, noting that the next government will have to push ahead with radical changes to minimise the risk.
• Eamon Ryan defended his role in Ireland’s data centre boom, saying that data centres could be operated in a low-carbon manner if built closer to sources of renewable energy.
• The chief executives of Irelands main insurance companies raised concerns over the effects of climate change on the industry as it decreases the appetite of the reinsurance market to provide flood cover.

In other world news:

• Next week, the cross-party UK Business and Trade Committee is set to question fast-fashion online retailers Shein and Temu about the rights of workers in its supply chain.
• Leading U.S. banking groups Citigroup, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are the latest institutions to announce their departure from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), joining a wave of Wall Street firms to do so.
• European commissioner Jessika Roswall said the EU must urgently address water shortages, as the EU’s efforts to secure energy has come at the expense of the water supply crisis.