As former President Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail after last week’s Republican National Convention, questions linger about how much he would be able to implement his energy agenda if elected, and how much he would oppose low-carbon technologies.
In his speech in Milwaukee last week, Trump slammed federal funding for electric vehicle chargers, vowed to lower energy costs and “drill, baby, drill.”
“We will end the ridiculous and actually incredible waste of taxpayer dollars that is fueling the inflation crisis. They’ve spent trillions of dollars of things having to do with the green new scam,” Trump said.
But Trump’s full position on technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and solar power are not fully clear, and could depend on whom he picks as his top energy advisers if elected.
What actually would change if Trump gets a second term depends on other players — Congress, trade groups, states, businesses and activists — who might have reasons to push back on his agenda because of benefits from current funding.
Take Congress. To strike a major blow at low-carbon tax credits — a major plank of the Inflation Reduction Act — Trump would need majorities in both congressional chambers, which could put Republicans with significant IRA-funded projects in their states in a difficult spot.
Another avenue for Trump would be to try and remake President Joe Biden’s regulations at the Department of Energy and other agencies.
Yet “you have to go through a regulatory process to change rules that were created with a regulatory process,” pointed out Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, a trade association for companies in the EV ecosystem.
Here’s what is known about Trump’s views on three technologies shaping the energy sector:
Electric vehicles
In his convention speech, Trump reiterated that he would “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one” and save the U.S. auto industry from “complete obliteration.” But Trump could face challenges if elected in attempting to fully undo Biden’s EV agenda.
He would face a complex set of pro-EV policies and laws that now have beneficiaries in many deep-red congressional districts. Through many instruments — the bipartisan infrastructure law, the IRA, EPA and Department of Transportation regulations — Biden created a governmental ecosystem with the goal of slashing transportation emissions in half in the next decade, while also creating the conditions for a home-grown EV manufacturing industry.
In pledging to end the electric vehicle “mandate” — a vow that is also in the GOP’s recent platform — Trump is targeting final emissions rules issued by EPA and DOT earlier this year, analysts say. EPA regulates the pollution emitted by vehicles, and DOT, through the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA), sets emissions standards for automakers’ vehicle fleets.
Read More: What Trump 2.0 could mean for EVs, solar and CCS
