Democratic senators: Second Trump term will still bring opportunities for climate action

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), two of the Senate’s most aggressive advocates for action on climate change, said Friday that the second Trump presidency will be a major setback for that action but expressed confidence there would still be opportunities for progress.

Speaking on a press call from the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan, Whitehouse conceded that “there will be no climate Normandy with America coming to the relief of the world” under President-elect Trump, who has pledged to ramp up fossil fuel production. However, he expressed confidence that the renewable energy industry will continue to grow and that there would be opportunities for states to lead on climate issues.

“As clean energy prices continue to fall and huge investments are underway, big states like California and New York, which are the fifth and the 10th largest economies in the world, respectively, will continue to push forward and will push even harder, knowing that they have an adversary in the Oval Office and not a friend,” Whitehouse said.

The Rhode Island senator also expressed confidence that there was still room to push on preventing methane leaks, which has found bipartisan support for in the past.

“There's no great constituency for methane leaks. They're a huge climate problem, and we can now detect them by satellite. So that's something that we ought to be able to solve,” Whitehouse said.

Markey expressed similar sentiments, blasting Trump’s history of climate change denial and ties to the fossil fuel industry but adding that “just like climate change won't be solved by any one president, climate action won't be stopped by any one president.”

Asked what action the Biden administration should take on climate in its final weeks, Whitehouse said the president should signal clear support to the U.K. and the European Union on their carbon border tariffs.

Whitehouse also said there may be an “interesting opportunity” to woo Trump, who ran on imposing steep import tariffs, on a similar idea in the U.S., noting that Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) have already co-sponsored legislation to impose carbon tariffs on imports to the U.S.