Commentary: How the election results may have saved the planet

Among all the reasons to celebrate the wonderful midterm election results, I would particularly like to emphasize how they have literally created an opportunity to save mankind’s future on this planet — that is, by stopping Trump’s race toward climate destruction and allowing the United States to once again become a leader in positive climate policies. This could not be more timely. Let me explain.

First, some data on the extent of the climate crisis.

While the issue of climate change unfortunately received almost no attention during the election campaign (in part due to some dubious recommendations by campaign advisors for “climate hushing”), one might have still noticed the almost weekly occurrence of climate-related weather disasters throughout the year … both in the U.S. and around the world.

The evidence that massive global climate change is happening is absolutely incontrovertible. Every year now brings new temperature records, and just this past October was globally the warmest October ever recorded. Atmospheric CO2 rating on Election Day (Nov. 3, 2026) was 428.84 ppm, continuing a pattern of record-high ratings (vs. about 280 ppm in “pre-industrial” times). CO2 ratings have now been climbing every year for decades, with trends increasing from less than 1.0 ppm/year in the 1960s to over 2.5 ppm/year in the 2020s.

Indeed, climate scientists are warning that Earth’s “life support systems” are breaking down, and that “The climate emergency is already here.” A new United Nations report concludes that we have already missed the original goal of limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, with urgent and stringent cuts to greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., 18% by 2030 and 45% by 2035), we could limit the increase to a level of 1.7-1.8°C and return to 1.5°C by the end of the century.

This is where the crucial importance of the recent U.S. election comes into play. As the world’s largest economy, the United States is positioned to have a massive influence on world policy and actions regarding climate. Hence the positive actions that President Biden took toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions were vitally important … and, in contrast, the immensely negative steps during Trump’s second administration are tremendously damaging.

Trump EPA to strip greenhouse gas limits for power plants, a key Biden climate policy

It is no exaggeration to say that if the U.S. continued Trump’s recent path regarding climate-related actions, those urgent savings targets would be completely unfeasible. Indeed, Trump’s actions to undermine climate policy and increase greenhouse gas emissions are so numerous and so extensive that it is not possible to summarize them all in one editorial. But here are a few examples.

In terms of international agreements, Trump not only has withdrawn (again) from the Paris Agreement, but also from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Domestically, Trump has pursued an incredible list of actions to support, finance and deregulate coal and oil interests, while also removing funding and blocking development of wind and solar energy projects. (Trump actually said in January 2026, “My goal is to not let any windmill be built.”)

This past September, Senators Schumer and Whitehouse released an extensive report detailing the dozens of ways that the Trump administration has rewarded the fossil fuel industry for its huge support of Trump’s presidential campaign. Some examples include:

• 26 senior officials across EPA, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) previously worked for fossil fuel or other polluting industries.
• Trump weaponized his EPA, DOE, DOI, DOJ, etc., on the fossil fuel industry’s behalf — from canceling grants for renewable energy projects on false pretexts to leasing swaths of public land to fossil fuels.
• Trump attacks clean energy to take out fossil fuel’s competitors: The Trump administration attacks fossil fuel’s competitors, especially wind and solar. More than $1.8 billion in taxpayer funds have been paid to companies to cancel wind projects, and over 160 projects are frozen.

Among the most consequential of Trump’s many actions is his rescinding of the “endangerment” finding by the EPA, that was the core basis for the government to be able to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

States can also be important leaders in advancing climate action. In that regard, the 2026 election is also very significant in that it produced five new states that now have Democratic “trifectas” (i.e., Democrats control the governorship as well as both chambers of the legislature). Michigan is one of those five states (the others being Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).

The existence of Democratic trifectas has become very important, due to the unfortunate shift in the Republican Party under Trump to be against any pro-climate policies.

The Michigan story in that context is very illustrative. Back in 2023, when Michigan had a Democratic trifecta, we passed a very significant legislative “climate” package. It established for the first time a clear state policy relating to climate change, as well as making some important additions to Michigan’s landmark renewable energy and energy efficiency law (PA 295 of 2008).

When Michigan passed that climate policy package in 2023 (PA 235 to strengthen the renewable energy requirement and PA 229 to strengthen the utility energy efficiency standard), not a single Republican voted in support of either of those pieces of legislation. Since the Republicans captured control of the Michigan House of Representatives in 2024, not a single piece of climate-friendly legislation has been passed. Re-establishing a Democratic trifecta in Michigan and those other key states should provide excellent opportunities for advancing pro-climate policies.

Bottom line: We are at a crucial crossroads for the future of this planet. With these outstanding election results, we’ve been given an opportunity to reverse our current path toward a climate crisis. Among the many issues that our newly elected representatives need to deal with, let’s hope that they make sure that one of the priorities is the climate.

Postscript: It is important to note that the primary policy solutions to the climate challenge … renewable energy and energy efficiency … are both cheaper than fossil fuels, and also create more local jobs. So saving the climate is also good economic policy.

Let’s get to it!