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As U.S. President Donald Trump rolls back the former government’s renewable energy initiatives in favour of fossil fuels, environmentalists and climate groups are not taking it lying down. Trump said throughout his electoral campaign that he intended to reverse former President Biden’s “green new scam”, referring to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and related climate policies. He doubled down on this promise from his first week in office with the announcement of an “energy emergency” and the signing of executive orders favouring oil, gas, and coal, as well as restricting wind energy developments across the country. While many clean energy project developers are concerned about the shift in policy and the uncertain investment environment, several climate groups are beginning to fight back with legal action. 

Environmental groups have increasingly taken to the courts in recent years to fight their cause using legal action. In 2024, an analysis found that Big Oil was facing a rising number of climate-focused lawsuits for their contribution to the climate crisis. The report from Oil Change International and the climate research organization Zero Carbon Analytics found that the number of cases filed against major oil and gas companies annually worldwide had almost tripled since 2015. This trend is set to continue as President Trump introduces a range of energy policies aimed at undoing climate progress and, instead, supporting new oil and gas projects. 

In interviews with more than six of the most prominent environmental groups with the New York Times, executives said that some legal challenges could take time to develop, as many of Trump’s orders have not yet been put into action. However, there is a clear intent from several of those interviewed to fight Trump’s energy policies and climate action. Several environmental organisations have already begun to file briefs for cases aiming to protect existing rules on air pollution. 

Meanwhile, some organisations are hopeful that Trump will not be able to achieve many of the energy and climate aims stated during his first month in office. The U.S. president has already begun to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal offices, putting 168 employees in its Office of Environmental Justice on leave, and this is thought to be just the beginning. However, massively reducing the number of staff in government agencies could work against Trump’s aims, as it will make it more difficult to rewrite and weaken regulations. 

Bethany Davis Noll, the executive director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Centre at New York University School of Law, explained, “To change a rule, an agency has to carefully demonstrate the benefit of the change and respond to public comments, including from industry and environmental groups. Officials in the Biden years put together detailed records to support their rules, she said, and those could prove to be difficult to challenge in court or reverse, even with fully staffed offices.” 

However, reducing the number of people working in these departments is also expected to have a detrimental impact on climate progress. “If you don't have people working at the EPA, it's pretty hard to keep the air clean, the water clean,” stated Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Centre for Biological Diversity.

In January, Before the end of his presidential term, Biden moved to protect the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts from offshore oil and gas drilling under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. President Trump is now trying to undo these ocean protections to allow for new oil and gas operations. In February, several environmental organisations launched a lawsuit aimed at stopping Trump from withdrawing the protections. 

Martha Collins, the Executive Director of Healthy Gulf, stated, “Protecting the eastern Gulf has long been a bipartisan effort in Florida. President Trump used the same authority as President Biden to protect the eastern Gulf and Florida coastline from offshore oil and gas. President Biden simply made those protections permanent, something President Trump did not do.” Collins added, “Unfortunately, we have to file suit to stand up against the rash and inconsistent policies of the Trump administration to enforce what both Florida Republicans and Democrats have fought for years on. Permanent protections from offshore oil and gas in Florida.”

Sam Sankar, senior vice president at Earthjustice, suggested that legal action will be taken against more of Trump’s recent executive orders. "We are looking at and developing lawsuits aimed at ensuring that the money flows to the intended recipients," Sankar said. In addition, several lawsuits challenging the authority of DOGE are reported to be under development. Although we can expect more climate lawsuits under Trump’s presidency, environmental groups will be biding their time to see whether the executive orders are translated into action, as several of the orders Trump signed during his first term as president never came into effect. 

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com