The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law to Keep Tabs on Trump-led Climate Rollbacks and Anti-Science Actions Starting on Inauguration Day 2025
With President Trump’s return to the White House today, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law will begin tracking his administration’s actions on climate change. We are launching three publicly-accessible online tracking tools: the Climate Backtracker will record Trump administration actions to weaken or eliminate federal climate protections, the Inflation Reduction Act Tracker (co-maintained with the Environmental Defense Fund) will track changes in the status of climate programs established via the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Silencing Science Tracker (co-maintained with the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund) to monitor anti-science actions.
The Sabin Center’s new online tool – the Climate Backtracker – will identify steps taken by the Trump-Vance administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures. The Backtracker is the third iteration of Sabin Center climate regulation trackers. The first was the Climate Deregulation Tracker which tracked climate-related regulatory actions under the first Trump administration (2017–2020), followed by the Climate Reregulation Tracker which tracked actions under the Biden Administration (2021–2024). The Climate Backtracker will begin capturing actions on the first day of President Trump's term today -- January 20, 2025.
“During the four years of Trump 1.0, the administration worked to repeal many of the climate regulations adopted under Obama, but it took them a lot of time and they often messed up procedurally, leading to many reversals in court. Trump 2.0 is much better prepared and will probably issue many more decisions quickly. This can be dizzying for companies that need to comply, for advocates who oppose (or support) these actions, and for all those who care about the climate. Our Climate Backtracker will keep tabs on these Trump administration actions so that everyone will be able to see what is happening and react as they see fit,” said Sabin Center Faculty Director Michael Gerrard.
The Sabin Center has also redesigned and updated its Climate Regulation Database. The database documents the history of federal efforts to address climate change, from the start of the Obama administration to today. It includes summaries and links to relevant federal regulations, policy statements, agency guidance, and other materials, organized by federal agency. The Climate Regulation Database can serve as a resource for understanding the current state and history of federal climate action, and the impact of the Trump administration’s actions, as captured by the Climate Backtracker.
The Sabin Center and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are relaunching the Inflation Reduction Act Tracker (IRA Tracker) with added functionality and analysis. The IRA Tracker is an interactive tool designed to help users understand the climate change-related provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The website includes a database with summaries of the IRA provisions, and an action tracker, which records actions taken by federal agencies to implement the IRA, and will be used to document any attempts to undermine or roll-back IRA programs during the Trump administration.
"The coming months and years will come with a dizzying array of attacks on environmental and public health protections, and the science that underlies them. The Sabin Center's Climate Backtracker, Silencing Science Tracker and Inflation Reduction Act Tracker have been designed and re-designed to help the public keep tabs on the critical threats posed by the incoming administration,” said Sabin Center Executive Director Michael Burger.
Finally, the Sabin Center and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) are relaunching their joint Silencing Science Tracker to document any anti-science actions taken by the Trump-Vance administration. The tracker, which was first launched in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, tracks media reports of federal, state, and local government attempts to “silence science.” The Silencing Science Tracker is a useful tool to understand risks to scientific integrity at all levels of government. To date, we have tracked 550 attempts (and counting) to interfere with the critical research scientists are doing in climate change, public health, and more.
“In the first Trump administration, the Silencing Science Tracker showed the extent to which anti-science actions were pervasive throughout the government, and the Tracker proved to be a valuable resource for journalists, members of Congress, and the general public. We're now ready to keep tabs on the activities of the second Trump administration and make sure that any anti-science actions receive the necessary scrutiny,” said CSLDF Executive Director Lauren Kurtz.
Explore the Climate Backtracker here and stay up-to-date as we document regulatory rollbacks initiated by the Trump administration that undermine climate action and interfere with environmental protections.
Explore the Inflation Reduction Act Tracker here and stay up-to-date as we include information related to the implications of the Trump administration on IRA climate programs.
Explore the Silencing Science Tracker here and stay tuned as we document any actions taken by the Trump administration that interfere with climate and other scientific research.
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Media contacts: Tiffany Campiz-Challe ([email protected]), Communications Associate at the Sabin Center; Romany Webb, Deputy Director at the Sabin Center ([email protected]); Olivia Guarna, Climate Justice Fellow at the Sabin Center ([email protected])