The Trump administration will end any pretence of trying to fight the accelerating Climate Crisis with a plan to shutter the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and nix the key legal basis to reduce emissions.

And at the same time, the Trump administration caused a second outrage amongst environmentalists by issuing and order to fast-track deep-sea mining in international waters that scientists say can cause serious damage to aquatic ecosystems.

The administration will revoke the US government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, a move that would gut federal efforts to combat climate change, Bloomberg reported on July 29.

The decision comes as the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its sixth (AR6) and starkest assessment yet ahead of the UN climate conference COP30 in Brazil in November.

Expectations for the next COP30 summit are low following the COP29 summit and COP28 summit that was little more than a cop-out, as both were hosted by major oil producing nations. The US played a key role at both events to stymie progress towards getting global commitments to radically reducing fossil fuel use.

The report warned in no uncertain terms that efforts to prevent beaching the 1.5-2°C increases of temperature above the pre-industrial benchmark have failed and policies need to change from focusing on reducing emissions to adaptivity and mitigation of the problems that will be associated with the new deteriorating environment.

Trump has already taken the US, the world’s second biggest CO₂ emitted, out of the 2015 Paris Agreement for a second time, and not only is not interested in reducing the use of fossil fuels, campaigned on the promise of “drill, baby, drill,” plainly stating that he wants to ramp up oil and gas production as much as possible to “make America rich again from the black gold.”

The most recent example of Trump’s new transactional approach to the climate is the new EU-US trade deal agreed at the weekend where European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to nearly quadruple Europe’s purchase of US fossil fuels at a time when Europe is trying to wean itself off oil and gas. One commentator described Trump’s deal as “delusional”.

As bne IntelliNews has reported that while China is a bigger emitter of GHGs, it is the global green energy champion and this year has seen its emissions of CO₂ start to fall. Moreover, China has remained well within its carbon budget of allowed emissions under the Paris Agreement, whereas the US has burnt through double its allotment and is largely ignoring its agreement commitments.

Closing down the EPA will be the last nail in the coffin of any US attempt to participate in the global struggle to stave off plant-changing environment disasters. The Agency will unveil a proposal on July 29 in Indiana to repeal the 2009 “endangerment finding,” a foundational determination that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane pose a threat to public health and welfare – the legal basis for mandating emissions controls. The ruling has underpinned decades of federal climate policy, including limits on emissions from power plants, vehicles and oil infrastructure.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin confirmed the plan during an interview, stating that the repeal would represent a major rollback of environmental regulation.

“How big is the endangerment finding? Well repealing it will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America — resulting in over a trillion dollars in savings,” Zeldin said.

A former Republican congressman, Zeldin has been widely described as sceptical of mainstream climate science, though he has not explicitly denied the existence of climate change in public statements. He has consistently supported policies that roll back environmental regulations and limit federal oversight of greenhouse gas emissions.

If finalised, the repeal would strip the EPA of its authority to regulate planet-warming gases under the Clean Air Act, effectively dismantling much of the federal framework for limiting emissions. The agency is also expected to undo specific emissions rules for cars, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Environmental organisations are in uproar at the proposal, warning that eliminating the endangerment finding directly contradicts established climate science as the Climate Crisis accelerates faster than scientists predicted and seven of the nine critical tipping points have already been reached.

The closure of the EPA will also put the US in direct confrontation with most of the rest of the world’s governments that are committed to preventing a crisis thus further isolating the US from international climate commitments.

The EPA has not yet released a formal timetable for finalising the proposal.