Trump's withdrawal from climate plans is just a gesture, the future direction has already been set by business
Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, halting the approval of wind farms, and the directive "drill, baby, drill" were not met with enthusiasm by most environmentalists on the part of the new US president. However, it seems that Trump's orders will be more of a gesture that will not change much in reality.
Shortly after his Monday inauguration, the re-elected American President Donald Trump began to fulfill some of his pre-election promises and, on the very day of the inauguration, signed a large number of orders that not only environmental organizations feared. One of them was the repeated withdrawal of the USA from the Paris Climate Agreement. (Trump had already withdrawn from the agreement once during his first term, the withdrawal was then reversed, but later vetoed again by his successor, Joe Biden.) The orders signed by Trump, however, will be more symbolic rather than bringing a real turnaround in trend.
Precisely the trend towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is clearly defined by both business and the policies of individual US states; therefore, the orders by which the new president withdrew from the climate agreement will probably not change much. Although Trump has withdrawn from the agreement, which is intended to limit the increase of global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era, and declared a national energy emergency and stopped the approval of new wind farms, overall, it will not be a major turnaround.
Many American states have already indicated that they want to continue with their plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite the new president's efforts to halt them. The "drill, baby, drill" plan might temporarily support increased oil and natural gas extraction across the USA, but in the long run, a decline in extraction can be expected due to decreasing demand, at least concerning oil and oil products.
Ultimately, the business sector has significantly more influence over the transition to low or zero-emission sources and increased use of electromobility. Many large companies, even those whose owners or directors attended President Trump's inauguration, have firmly set plans for transitioning away from fossil fuels for ten years or more. Although it might seem that billionaires or CEOs of companies like Google, Apple, or Amazon are strong partners of Donald Trump, it is likely more of a logical step that allows them to remain in good standing with the new president.
The decarbonization of these companies, which has already cost billions of dollars, will not cease just because of the re-election of a new president whose term in office is significantly shorter than these companies' plans. According to experts, even with the USA's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the decarbonization of the economy will continue at least at the same pace as before.
Additionally, considering many scientific warnings highlighting the growing issues caused by climate change, with which many US states have experience (such as wildfires in Los Angeles), it can be expected that reason will prevail over politics, and the changes necessary to mitigate climate change will occur even without presidential approval.
The steps Trump planned and has now put into place can thus be considered more of a symbolic gesture and a splash in the water rather than a profound change in direction that would undermine the plans and strategies previously set in the fight against climate change.