Donald Trump’s 2025 presidency has featured a series of contentious environmental moves and assertions. He ordered water away from the tiny delta smelt, blamed offshore wind for whale strandings despite NOAA finding no evidence, and publicly directed staff to call coal "clean, beautiful coal." He also mischaracterised past scientific discussion as "global cooling," while scientists emphasise that the planet is warming rapidly because of fossil fuel emissions. Administrative actions and probes targeting climate communicators have added to concerns about U.S. climate policymaking.
From ‘Global Cooling’ To ‘Clean, Beautiful Coal’: Trump’s Most Striking Climate Claims In 2025
Coalminers listen as Donald Trump speaks and signs executive orders about coal production at the White House on 8 April 2025.Photograph: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2025 was accompanied by a stream of provocative statements and policy moves about the environment — some surprising, many disputed by scientists and federal agencies. Below are the most notable examples that shaped debates about U.S. climate and energy policy this year.
Delta Smelt And A Water Order
On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order titled "Putting People Over Fish," directing water to be diverted away from the habitat of the tiny California delta smelt and toward agricultural users. The administration framed the move as prioritizing people and farms, but scientists and water managers warned that moving water that far would not meaningfully aid firefighting hundreds of miles away in Los Angeles and that the volumes diverted were relatively small compared with the broader hydrological pressures from prolonged drought and climate change.
Offshore Wind And Whale Strandings
In his early weeks Trump also attacked offshore wind projects, suggesting "windmills" were responsible for whale strandings in Massachusetts: "The windmills are driving the whales crazy, obviously," he said. Federal scientists, including officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have said there is no evidence linking offshore wind site surveys to whale deaths. NOAA told reporters, "At this point, there is no scientific evidence that noise resulting from offshore wind site characterization surveys could potentially cause whale deaths." Experts continue to identify entanglement, vessel strikes and shifts in prey due to warming oceans as leading threats to whales.
Rolling Back Renewables And Misstating Costs
The administration moved to halt several planned wind projects and the president declared in August, "we don't allow the windmills and we don't want the solar panels." He also called wind "the most expensive energy there is," a claim at odds with market data showing wind and solar among the cheapest sources of new electricity generation in many regions.
Rebranding Coal
At a high-profile UN address, Trump described a White House directive to avoid the word "coal" and instead use "clean, beautiful coal." The reality remains that coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel and a major source of air pollutants that harm respiratory and cardiovascular health near power plants. Coal miners have long faced occupational hazards such as black lung disease, and although public funds have supported carbon-capture pilot projects, large-scale deployment of effective carbon-capture at U.S. coal plants has not materialized.
“Global Cooling” Claim And The Science
In the same UN speech the president suggested scientists once predicted global cooling, saying, "It used to be global cooling... Then they said global warming... But then it started getting cooler." This mischaracterises the scientific record. While climate science was less mature in the early 20th century, the greenhouse effect was understood and the overwhelming scientific consensus today — based on extensive observations and climate models — is that the world is warming at an unprecedented rate for the modern human era, primarily because of burning fossil fuels and, to a lesser extent, land-use change.
Investigations And Administrative Actions
Trump has announced probes aimed at those who have publicised climate science, calling it "a little conspiracy out there" and urging immediate investigations. His administration has also taken steps that critics say weaken climate policymaking: removing references to the climate crisis from some government pages, restricting certain language in federal communications, and making personnel changes among agency scientists and officials.
Historical Note: Internal documents and academic research show that parts of the fossil fuel industry were aware of climate risks from the 1950s and produced accurate long-term warming projections by the 1970s. Rather than sounding broad public warnings, many companies later funded campaigns that downplayed or obscured climate science to protect business interests.
Whether framed as political messaging or policy, these moves and statements have had real consequences for public debate, energy markets and scientific institutions. The scientific consensus on human-caused warming remains robust, and many past climate projections have proven broadly accurate.
