Smart Cities Dive: ‘We’ve been here before’: What Trump’s win could mean for local climate action

“[Mayors] are going to double down on our commitment, passion and vigor to continue to address these issues, especially at the local level,” said Cleveland, Ohio, Mayor Justin Bibb, who is the chair of Climate Mayors. “We’ve been here before, when President Trump was first elected in 2016 and pulled out of the Paris Accords,” a legally binding international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

It will likely be more difficult for local governments to take on ambitious climate projects under a second Trump administration than it was under the Biden administration, said Amy Turner, director of the Cities Climate Law Initiative at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. But the next four years won’t be the first time that U.S. cities lack a strong federal partner on this front. In fact, the Biden administration is the first strong federal climate partner cities have ever had, Turner said. Even so, Biden’s climate track record isn’t spotless, with the U.S. breaking global records for crude oil production under his administration.