President Trump isn’t an existential threat to the energy transition and climate change, investor and climate activist Tom Steyer said Tuesday at an Axios House event during Climate Week NYC.
Why it matters: Steyer’s free-market views offer an upbeat contrast to the Trump administration’s focus on fossil fuels and nuclear over other clean-energy technologies.
Zoom in: “The energy transition is in full swing,” said Steyer, a 2020 presidential aspirant who co-founded and is co-executive chair of investment firm Galvanize.
- Steyer said this year has been Galvanize’s best by far: “Profits scale. We want to change the world. We need to do scale.”
- Steyer called the importance of the investment tax credits for solar and wind “overrated,” in response to a segment asking him to rate actions as overrated, properly rated or underrated.
Steyer also downplayed Trump’s threat to global climate change, noting the U.S. is responsible for just 11% of emissions.
- China’s use of fossil fuels has peaked, pointed out Steyer: “If China’s peaked, the world’s peaked.”
Yes, but: Steyer acknowledged that regardless of Trump, “we’re in a lot of trouble about climate.” He expressed hope that young people can lead the way toward solutions.
Britain’s energy minister Ed Miliband said talk of a U.S.-led global retreat from climate action was overstated and that the economic arguments supporting net zero were strong enough to see off domestic and international scepticism.
Miliband spoke to Reuters from New York Climate Week, where speakers have called for world leaders to turn climate promises into action, against a backdrop of U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda of boosting fossil fuels, rolling back pollution regulation and defunding science and climate action.
“There’s lots of talk about countries stepping back from climate action and clean energy, but my message is, don’t believe the doomsters,” he said by videolink.
“When you look at what’s really happening, it’s actually a very, very different story.”
As well as citing a more upbeat-than-expected vibe at Climate Week events, he pointed to data showing clean energy technologies attracted over $2 trillion in investment in 2024 – twice the amount in fossil fuels.
