File:The Trump cabinet picks positions on climate.jpg

What Trump’s Cabinet Picks Say About Climate Change

• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/climate/trump-cabinet-stefanik-zeldin-wright.html?unlocked_article_code=1.e04.mzKY.rLbySb_M1JmE&smid=em-share

Marco Rubio, State Department

Pete Hegseth, Defense Department

Elise Stefanik, U.N. Ambassador

Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency

Doug Burgum, Interior Department

Chris Wright, Energy Department

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Health and Human Services Department

Sean Duffy, Transportation Department

Scott Bessent, Treasury Department

Brooke Rollins, Agriculture Department

And in advisory roles for a new, in-formation Department of Government Efficiency

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy

Elon Musk, Department of Government Efficiency

Mr. Trump has said Mr. Musk will help lead a new panel to radically restructure the government by cutting staff and budgets. Environmental agencies are expected to be a chief target.

What Musk has said:

"We shouldn’t be complacent about changing the chemical constituency of our atmosphere & oceans, but climate change definitely will not end the world as we know it! If people keep pushing hard, humanity will solve the sustainable energy problem in time. — Sept. 10, 2023, post on X

What else to know:

Mr. Musk has consistently acknowledged climate change and supported clean energy. But he also has made conflicting statements, saying both “we should bias toward sustainable energy” and “we don’t have to rush” to renewables. The International Energy Agency disagrees, and says that nations must quickly cut their emissions and transition away from fossil fuels to meet climate goals.

Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency

Mr. Ramaswamy, a onetime Republican presidential hopeful, will oversee along with Mr. Musk the paring down of government spending.

What Ramaswamy has said:

ABC News: “Do you believe in climate change?”

Mr. Ramaswamy: “Well, I think that with due respect, I’ve talked about this in other forums, ‘Do you believe in climate change?’ is not really a meaningful question, because climate change has existed as long as the Earth has existed. Do I believe it is a fact that global surface temperatures are rising over the course of the last century and the last half century? Yes, I think that that is an established trend.”

ABC News: “As president, would you do anything to try to buck that trend?”

Mr. Ramaswamy: “No is the answer.” — ABC News interview, September 2023

What else to know:

Mr. Ramaswamy has accused climate activists who want the country to move away from fossil fuels of trying to “shackle” America to let China “catch up to the United States economically.”

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