The game is changing

Politico

28-01-2025

THE BIG IDEA
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THE GAME GOES ON — ESG and net-zero might be dead or out of vogue, but Los Angeles just burned and the southeastern U.S. continues to dig out of historic flooding.
We're in a new environment where corporate and government initiatives to fight against global warming are butting up against a hostile Republican trifecta in Washington and a broader 'vibe shift' that have silenced companies and groups that had been strong advocates.
The 2024 election that has returned President Donald Trump to the White House is seen by supporters as having settled the debate over environmental, social and governance principles and the role companies should play in addressing environmental and cultural issues.
His presidency is bolstering legal threats against companies over their involvement with groups advancing climate-friendly policies, weakening and fraying industry alliances that were formed only four years ago. And Trump's administration is changing real policy signals around climate regulations and incentives meant to slash pollution.
Call it corporate social responsibility, ESG or 'conscientious capitalism,' if you're BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. It might all be dead. Maybe net-zero is overrated, too.
But the planet is continuing to get hotter every year and once-in-a-lifetime weather catastrophes now seem to be happening multiple times a year. And what we do about the problem will ultimately matter far more than what we say about it or what we call it.
There will still be a need to decarbonize, and policymakers and businesses will continue to sort out how to do that and with what new technologies and at what pace because of the science that drives the imperative.
And, remember, an overwhelming majority of people around the world believe that climate change is an emergency and are changing their behaviors accordingly, 20,000 respondents told Deloitte in a global survey.
In that way, the game goes on.
WASHINGTON WATCH
FREEZE-OUT — Trump's budget office ordered a total freeze on 'all federal financial assistance' that could be targeted under his previous executive orders, pausing funding for a wide range of priorities — from domestic infrastructure and energy projects to diversity-related programs and foreign aid.
While the extent of what's covered by the directive is still unclear, the order appears to be wide in scope and likely to set up a spending clash with Congress, Jennifer Scholtes and Nicholas Wu report.
The Office of Management and Budget memo said all federal agencies would be forced to suspend payments — with the exception of Social Security and Medicare.
'They say this is only temporary, but no one should believe that,' said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. 'Donald Trump must direct his Administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers' money should be distributed to the people. Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law.'
Bobby Kogan, who worked at the White House budget office during the Biden administration, called the memo a 'big, broad, illegal' order that violates impoundment law, which blocks presidents from unilaterally withholding money without the consent of Congress.
'This is as bad as we feared it would be,' said Kogan, who also served as a Democratic aide to the Senate Budget Committee and is now a director at the Center for American Progress.
AROUND THE NATION
STATE BLUES — Trump is back in power, but the blue states that fought the president during his first term now face constraints that are scuttling their ability to fill the climate policy vacuum.
Democratic leaders' concerns over high energy prices in the face of Trump's promised rollbacks of regulations and incentives are threatening their ability to achieve their own climate goals, your host reports with Marie J. French and Blanca Begert.
'The public is exhausted,' said New York Democratic Assemblymember John McDonald. 'At the end of the day, they don't want to see their bills go up. We have to be sensitive to that.'
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this month backed away from finalizing a landmark pollution pricing and climate funding program this year. Maryland is delaying action on a similar program, and Vermont also looks poised to jettison an effort to fund home electrification by charging more for heating fuels after bruising losses for Democrats in the Legislature.
Even California is pushing back the reauthorization of its emissions cap, the nation's first, and Canada's Liberal government is dealing with a conservative offensive against its carbon tax.
These setbacks reflect Democrats' decades-long struggle to navigate the balance between climate action and the shorter-term economic interests of their voters.
There are still pockets of optimism. Blue states responded to Trump's 2016 win by enacting or expanding clean energy goals — and some Republican leaders followed them, like Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.
'We are ready to do it again,' said former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who serves as the U.N.'s special envoy on climate ambition and last week committed to paying America's dues to the organization's climate body after Trump issued an executive order withdrawing from the Paris climate accords.
Hochul has signed a sweeping 'Climate Superfund' measure that will attempt to extract billions of dollars from fossil fuel companies to compensate for past fossil fuel emissions and advanced a congestion pricing program to reduce vehicle pollution in New York City. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she wants her state to codify a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
But as Democrats look to implement their far-reaching targets, they're facing headwinds as renewable energy projects were already facing cost and supply chain challenges during the Biden administration.
Now, Republican victories in 2024 are threatening to stifle climate action further.
'The election rattled everybody,' said Kim Coble, co-chair of the Maryland Commission on Climate Change and executive director of the state's League of Conservation Voters chapter. 'I think everybody kind of stopped and said, 'Wait a minute. Wow. What's this really mean?''
Movers and Shakers
NEW GROUP ON THE BLOCK — Companies across the plastics value chain are launching a new effort today to boost recycling access for polystyrene, a difficult-to-recycle material found in everything from food packaging to electronics and building materials.
The Polystyrene Recycling Alliance, launched out of the Plastics Industry Association, is aiming to make polystyrene 'widely recyclable' through investments in collection infrastructure, drop-off programs and the development of end markets. That status would allow brands to market polystyrene products as recyclable through the Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides.
Roughly one-third of Americans have access to recycling for at least one type of polystyrene, according to a study commissioned by the new group, but the actual recycling rate is much lower.
That research is designed to identify localities where polystyrene recycling is and isn't working well, said Richard Shaw, the head of the new coalition.
'We are on a journey here of transformation, where post-use plastic is being recognized for the value that it has,' said Shaw, who declined to share details about the program's budget. 'It's important that we look out the front windshield on this journey, and not just the rearview mirror. There's a narrative out there that polystyrene is problematic because it's not recyclable, and that is a false narrative.'
The rollout is part of the Plastic Industry Association's 'Recycling is Real' campaign meant to push back against environmental groups' claims that plastic recycling is a deceptive ploy that only exacerbates pollution. Just 8.7 percent of total plastics are recycled, according to the latest EPA data, significantly less than paper, glass and aluminum.
The industry is under pressure to make its products more sustainable from brands and customers, as well as regulators in states that have adopted ambitious recycling reforms and U.N. negotiators looking to land a plastics treaty that phases out 'problematic' plastics and chemicals.
YOU TELL US
GAME ON — Welcome to the Long Game, where we tell you about the latest on efforts to shape our future. We've loved keeping you in the loop on the world of sustainability and are deeply appreciative of your readership. It's been a fun ride.
Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott and reporter Jordan Wolman. You can still reach us at [e-mail] and [e-mail].
WHAT WE'RE CLICKING
— Miami-Dade County is planning to build a massive trash incinerator that nobody seems to want, according to the Washington Post.
— A Wall Street Journal opinion column argues that the ESG movement was killed by hypocrisy.
— Kentucky is moving people from flood-prone areas to the former sites of mountaintop mines, the New York Times reports.