Trump announces series of measures to promote fossil fuels

President Trump said at his inauguration Monday that he would sign a series of executive orders to grant his administration new powers to promote fossil fuels and withdraw support for renewable energy, signaling that the United States government would no longer fight against climate change.

Mr. Trump also intends to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on global warming for a second time. He said large areas of public lands and federal waters, including fragile wilderness areas in Alaska, would be opened to oil and mineral extraction. And he said he would repeal regulations aimed at promoting electric vehicles and prevent new offshore wind farms from being built in federal waters.

Mr. Trump also said he planned to declare a national energy emergency. He would be the first president to do so, even though the United States currently produces more oil and natural gas than any other country. The declaration could unlock the power to suspend certain environmental regulations and expedite oil and gas drilling permits, as well as the power to keep coal-fired power plants operating.

“We’re going to drill, baby, drill,” Mr. Trump said at the Capitol after being sworn in.

Mr. Trump’s shift toward fossil fuels comes after the hottest year on record and, as scientists say, the world is running out of time to keep global warming at relatively low levels. Last year, emissions from burning coal, oil and gas helped push global average temperatures past 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above levels pre-industrial. Scientists have said that every fraction of a degree of warming above that level brings increased risks of deadly heat waves, wildfires, drought, storms and species extinctions.

Most of Mr. Trump’s energy policies cannot be implemented with the stroke of a pen, as some would require action by federal agencies or Congress and others could face legal challenges. Nor could he, by executive order, rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, or Alaska’s Denali, the highest peak in North America, as Mount McKinley. Mr. Trump has promised to do both.

But taken together, these statements underscore how Mr. Trump views the world: America has been weakened by efforts to combat climate change, oil and gas are symbols of strength and power, and Abundance of fossil fuels will ensure that the United States is able to dominate its allies. and its rivals.