This April 22, 2022, Pete Hegseth is not yet expected to take the reins of the Pentagon. A few weeks before the release of his book Battle for the American spirit, who denounces “the indoctrination of students from kindergarten to 12th grade”, he co-hosts with Texan columnist Will Cain a show on Fox News devoted to climate change. The idea of this show well-established is not to alert Americans to the harmful consequences linked to rising temperatures. On the contrary, the goal of the program is to make fun of the “fibs” told by Democrats on this subject.
On the giant screen installed behind the presenters, short videos of personalities and screenshots of press articles follow one another. Content carefully chosen and presented in a caricatured manner. No room here for a fine and detailed analysis by IPCC scientists. For information, a quote announcing the end of the world in nine years, an extract from an article anticipating the rise of cannibalism in the future due to the climate crisis, another making the link, without really believing it, between the rise temperatures and heart problems…
Pete Hegseth lets loose: climate change is the perfect enemy. “It’s everywhere but we never see it. And we should do everything in our power to tackle this problem? When it’s too hot, too cold or too rainy, it’s our fault of the climate It’s even our fault because – according to the Democrats – we are gods who control the climate.
Will Cain also adds some. After launching a video during which Prince Harry warns us that the world is on fire, he laughs and slaps his thighs “It doesn’t make sense, we are at a historic low in terms of the number of victims associated with disasters such as hurricanes or floods. The argument is fallacious but whatever. The idea is to make the climate cause seem like an unfounded obsession. And thus stick to the ideas of Donald Trump, who has visibly made climate skepticism an important recruitment criterion for his new team.
The “fanaticism of global elites”
In 2019, in a column published in USA TodaySenator Marco Rubio – now proposed as head of diplomacy – recognizes that temperatures are rising, but does not attribute the phenomenon to human activities and above all, rejects “the fanaticism of global elites and American leftists around climate change “. He cites an Environmental Agency study released two years earlier, which, according to him, ensures that an adaptation effort will reduce weather damage by 90% on the Florida coast. It would therefore be useless to build protective dikes. Homeowners would not need to move either. Problem: a CBS journalist read – really – the study, and the conclusions go in the opposite direction.
One more drop in an ocean of misinformation. Elon Musk, charged by Donald Trump with eliminating the burdens of the American administration, has repeatedly published messages maintaining that livestock farming has no impact on the climate. “Killing a few cows won’t make any difference,” he assures. And to think that the owner of Tesla once benefited from the sympathy of environmentalists, because of his prowess in electric vehicles…
Another textbook case: Chris Wright, the candidate for the position of Secretary of Energy, explains in a video posted on LinkedIn last year that the climate crisis does not exist. There is therefore no need to tackle the transition. Words that are hardly surprising coming from the man who runs Liberty Energy, a company offering services… hydraulic fracturing.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, nominated for the Department of Homeland Security and therefore responsible for overseeing the Federal Weather Emergency Management Agency, also rejects the idea that man is at fault. origin of the increase in temperatures. “To a journalist who asked her in March 2022 if she thought the climate was changing, she replied: ‘I don’t think it’s been proven that what we’re doing affects the climate,'” notes the magazine ScientificAmerican. Kristi Noem would also the only governor to have withdrawn from a $4 billion Department of Energy program allowing states to distribute rebates to their residents on their energy renovation work, the review continues.
Hydrocarbon exploitation still holds the upper hand
In the land of shale gas and oil, the end of thermal sieves will have to wait a few more years. Karoline Leavitt, the future spokesperson for the Trump team, is part of this same vision of the world where the exploitation of hydrocarbons still holds the upper hand. “I have nothing against renewable energies, but the Inflation Reduction Act (Editor’s note: a law put in place by the Biden administration allowing massive subsidies for green technologies) has siphoned off a lot of money. This one could have be used in a more useful way,” she explained in 2022.
Such a concentration of profiles that are not very respectful of the environment leaves many experts speechless. Donald Trump has already announced that the United States will leave the Paris agreement as soon as possible. Will it go further by freeing itself from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and unraveling the IRA? The most optimistic cling to the idea that, on this subject, Donald Trump could demonstrate pragmatism. After all, the investments triggered by the IRA mainly benefit republican territories. But as François Gemenne, professor at HEC and lead author of the 6th IPCC report, points out, the billionaire does not always make the right choices when it comes to the economy. “During his first mandate, many bosses asked him not to withdraw from the Paris agreements. Yet he did so.” Before Joe Biden reversed this decision.
One thing seems certain: without cooperation from the United States, the energy transition will suffer. The collateral damage is already appearing. Javier Milei asked his diplomats to leave COP29, just three days after the start of negotiations. The Argentine president reportedly made this decision after a telephone exchange with Donald Trump. “The risk now is to see Argentina exit the Paris agreement before the United States. This could even spread to countries like Venezuela, Russia, Hungary and others. And as there is a period of three years between the announcement of a country’s exit and its actual departure, the United States has the power to sabotage the negotiations of the next COPs”, notes François Gemenne. During Donald Trump’s first term, the world succeeded in limiting climate damage. This time, the task promises to be more difficult.