STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
OK. We're looking this week at the way that President Biden and former President Trump might act on climate change if they should win a second term in the White House. Each has a record - one term long - that we can look at. Yesterday, we explored Biden's agenda, and today we look at Trump's. Michael Copley from NPR's Climate Desk has more.
MICHAEL COPLEY, BYLINE: When Donald Trump spoke recently to supporters in Phoenix, he repeated a familiar message - the country is making a big mistake investing in renewable energy and electric vehicles.
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DONALD TRUMP: These guys - all they want to do is spend money on the green new scam. It's a green new scam. I mean, the things they're spending money on is like throwing the money out the window.
COPLEY: Outside the rally, temperatures climbed to a record 112 degrees, and 11 people had to be treated for heat exhaustion. Solomon Hsiang says that across the U.S., communities are facing more extreme heat waves, wildfires and floods as the Earth heats up from burning fossil fuels. Hsiang's a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
SOLOMON HSIANG: The alarming thing is that over and over and over, you're seeing in the news reports about changes happening that we did not expect.
COPLEY: That isn't stopping Trump and his allies from attacking technology that can rein in heat-trapping pollution. Some conservative groups want to get rid of tax incentives for things like solar panels and electric vehicles that are central to President Biden's climate plans.
DIANA FURCHTGOTT-ROTH: For companies with technologies that rely on government tax credits, yes, they should be very worried.
COPLEY: That's Diana Furchtgott-Roth. She leads the energy and climate program at the Heritage Foundation. It's a conservative think tank that published a governing plan for the next Republican administration called Project 2025. The plan maps out the remaking of the whole federal government. As far as the environment goes, it minimizes threats from global warming, calls for abolishing federal climate initiatives and repealing laws that help businesses and communities cut emissions. Furchtgott-Roth says getting rid of clean energy subsidies is a top priority.
FURCHTGOTT-ROTH: Let the chips fall where they may. Allow people to choose the least expensive electricity options that meet their needs.
COPLEY: Senior Trump adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement that Trump would unleash the country's fossil fuel industries. But it's hard to know exactly what the former president would do in a second term. Trump can be unpredictable. The last time around, his administration weakened dozens of environmental protections. But Shara Mohtadi isn't panicking. She leads a company called S2 Strategies. It helps governments and nonprofits access clean energy.
SHARA MOHTADI: The inevitability of the economy being completely run on clean energy in the next decade, two decades is there.
COPLEY: Mohtadi said that transition's happening for a few reasons - the cost of clean energy is falling fast. A lot of companies are serious about reducing emissions. And Republican-led states are getting a lot of clean energy investment, thanks to Biden administration initiatives. But Mohtadi says Trump could slow the transition away from fossil fuels. And she says that's the opposite of what needs to happen right now.
MOHTADI: The climate crisis requires a pretty steep downturn in emissions and further decarbonization in a bit more of an exponential way than I think the kind of stepping stone approach that so far has happened.
COPLEY: Industry and climate analysts say the world needs a massive build-out of clean energy in the coming decades to make a big dent in emissions. To do that, Hsiang says countries need to lay the groundwork now.
HSIANG: The potential widespread harm that can emerge as a result of another decade of confusion and disorganization - it's hard to articulate the magnitude of those costs to society.
COPLEY: Speaking to Fox News recently, Trump dismissed the threat of rising sea levels. And with temperatures soaring in Phoenix, he told the crowd his priority is pumping more oil.
Michael Copley, NPR News.
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