In a year marked by controversial policy shifts, former President Donald Trump's return to the White House in 2025 has been defined by a series of startling pronouncements on the environment and climate change. From the signing of executive orders on coal to public speeches dismissing established science, his administration has prioritised a dramatic rollback of environmental protections and a rebranding of fossil fuels.
Executive Action and the 'Worthless Fish'
Upon re-entering office in January 2025, Trump swiftly turned his attention to an unlikely subject: the delta smelt. This endangered, three-inch fish native to California became an immediate target. Trump labelled it "an essentially worthless fish" and claimed water flows protecting its habitat should be diverted to farmers and wildfire fighting in Los Angeles.
His first-day executive order, titled "Putting people over fish", mandated this diversion. However, experts quickly countered that water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta could not practically aid fires hundreds of miles south. They emphasised that the climate crisis, driving severe droughts, was the overwhelming factor, with the smelt's minimal water needs being a negligible part of the equation.
Questioning Renewables and Rebranding Coal
Trump's scepticism of renewable energy also escalated. In early 2025, he bizarrely claimed offshore wind turbines were "driving the whales crazy", linking them to whale strandings in Massachusetts. Federal scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found no scientific evidence connecting whale deaths to offshore wind surveys, citing fishing nets, boat strikes, and climate-altered prey behaviour as the primary threats.
Undeterred, Trump halted planned wind projects, falsely calling wind "the most expensive energy there is," despite solar and wind being among the cheapest power sources. His most unusual rebranding effort came in a September 2025 speech to the United Nations, where he declared an internal White House order: "Never use the word 'coal'. Only use the words 'clean, beautiful coal'." This directly contradicts coal's status as the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel, a major source of air pollution and the cause of black lung disease among miners.
Denying Science and Targeting Investigators
In the same UN address, Trump challenged the very basis of climate science, reviving a long-debunked myth. "It used to be global cooling," he stated, claiming scientists in the 1920s and 30s warned of cooling before switching to warnings about warming. In reality, the world is heating at an unprecedented rate due to human activity, with the 20th-century cooling myth stemming from a handful of reports vastly outweighed by evidence of the greenhouse effect.
By November 2025, Trump's rhetoric turned towards investigation, but not of the climate crisis itself. At a US-Saudi investment forum, he suggested a "little conspiracy" and called for probes into those who promote climate action, though he was vague on who "they" were—scientists, politicians, or insurers. Notably, he did not call for investigating fossil fuel companies, which internal documents show accurately predicted global heating risks decades ago while publicly downplaying them.
Throughout 2025, the Trump administration has systematically removed climate crisis references from government platforms and banned terminology like "emissions." However, the scientific reality remains unchanged: the planet continues to warm, fuelled by the very fossil fuels his policies seek to promote.
