Axios: ‘The world’s nice local weather collapse’: ‘The climate agenda’s fall from grace over the previous yr has been beautiful — in velocity, scale & scope’
https://www.axios.com/2026/01/13/climate-change-trump-collapse-world
By Amy Harder
The climate agenda’s fall from grace over the past year has been stunning — in speed, scale and scope.
Why it matters: Whether this collapse in climate-change ambition proves permanent or temporary will shape the planet — which is still warming in unprecedented ways — and trillions of dollars in global energy investment.
Driving the news: President Trump last week announced that he’s withdrawing from the world’s flagship climate treaty that’s been in place for more than 30 years, making the U.S. the only country not to be part of it.
- “There’s no hand-waving about how ‘We want to cooperate on climate,’” oil historian and S&P Global vice chairman Dan Yergin said in an interview. “It’s, ‘We’re slamming the door on that issue.’”
- “We’ve gone from over-indexing it to zero-indexing it.”
The big picture: The last 30 years of global history “was an exceptionally unusual period,” said Nat Keohane, president of the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
- After the Cold War, countries — led by the U.S. — bonded together and created global institutions.
“Climate policy was facilitated by multilateralism, globalization and the sense nations had a common agenda far more than the world we live in right now,” Yergin said.
Catch up fast: The last year has seen an epic reversal that spread quickly from governments to boardrooms to pop culture.
- Trump has aggressively and comprehensively dismissed climate change as a problem.
- Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, once one of the world’s most vocal climate advocates, is now repealing his country’s climate policies.
- Bill Gates circulated a memo criticizing the climate movement while shifting much of his money and focus back to public health — just four years after publishing “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.”
- Ford pulled back sharply from its EV ambitions, becoming a case study in the risks of betting on whipsawing government policies.
Outside of North America, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair also issued a memo questioning the political and economic wisdom of pursuing “net zero” policies as designed.
Even Hollywood is moving on — swapping climate angst as shown in 2021’s “Don’t Look Up and 2023’s “Extrapolations” miniseries for oil swagger, as seen in the current hit TV show “Landman.”
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