The Climate Excuses Have Run Out

Also found on my Substack: here

Climate change is not a matter of opinion, political preference, or religious belief. Climate change is science; it is physics, chemistry, and biology. Ignoring it does not spare us from suffering its costs on our health and our economy; it only makes solutions more expensive in the future.

The costs of inaction are already with us, with worsening wildfires, billion-dollar floods, record-breaking heat, and destruction to our nation’s infrastructure. These escalating effects are burdening households, businesses, and taxpayers across the country and are only getting worse. At the Office of Management and Budget under President Biden, we began tracking climate fiscal risks to the federal government and found that billions of dollars are expected to be lost over the next decade from infrastructure and disaster relief costs alone (latest assessments can be found here and here). There’s also a growing economic consequence of American businesses falling behind in the global clean energy marketplace.

Yet after more than two decades in climate policy, I continue to hear excuses from many fellow Republicans about why the U.S. can’t act on climate change. This has only further delayed actions needed to better protect public health, economic stability, and environmental security.

The excuses tend to fall into four well-worn categories, which include:

• We need more research. For decades, many Republicans have insisted we needed more research before acting on climate change. After over 40 years of intensive study, the science on climate change is not only clear, but also alarming. The more we’ve studied, the more we understand the devastation and speed at which climate change will devastate our economy and livelihoods. Climate research remains vital, especially as communities struggle to adapt to the new climate reality, but science “uncertainty” is no longer a credible excuse for inaction. Despite the scientific evidence being clear, the Trump Administration and Congressional allies have decided to undercut and defund climate science, rather than face the findings.

• Technology isn’t ready. Republicans have also claimed we needed better, cheaper energy technologies first, before we could focus on climate mitigation. This may have been a viable argument twenty years ago, but after decades of federal investment, clean technologies are now viable and cost-effective. Just as clean technologies became scalable, the Trump Administration and their Congressional allies are doing all they can to undercut deployment. Meanwhile, countries like China are surging ahead in clean energy investments, using technologies we helped invent. Further research is needed for the next generation of technologies, but it’s no longer an excuse for inaction.

• We need market-based solutions. If I had a nickel for every time I heard a Republican tell me that they opposed EPA climate regulations, but would support market-based climate solutions, I’d be writing this post from the deck of my yacht. Democratic leaders in the White House and in Congress have offered market-based solutions: cap-and-trade, carbon pricing, and tax incentives. We negotiated bipartisan approaches, worked with industry, and sought solutions that would work across the country, not just in certain states. Yet time and again, these solutions were either blocked, repealed, or undermined by the very people who once demanded them.

• Let the states lead. When all else failed, Republicans fell back on federalism, insisting states should take the lead on climate. But now, even state efforts—like California’s clean car standards and regional initiatives—are under attack from the Trump Administration and its allies in Congress. They’re not just targeting state climate mitigation efforts; they’re also trying to revoke Inflation Reduction Act funds that help states prepare for climate-fueled disasters. So when Republicans say they support states’ rights, they clearly don’t mean on climate.

  
  

The reality is we need all the things. We need more climate science, technology R&D, market-based solutions, state actions, regulations, and resilience, if we are going to best protect our health and economy from climate change. However, Trump-aligned Republicans are moving in the opposite direction, with actively reversing progress on climate and spreading disinformation to confuse the public. It’s the same tactic once used by supporters of the tobacco industry: stall, mislead, and support corporate profits over public health, while millions of Americans suffer the consequences.

As other nations invest in clean technologies and carbon-free industries, we are still locked in a political debate over whether the problem exists. We’ve got to move on. The window for action is closing fast. This is no longer a problem for the next generation, it is a crisis today. No time for more excuses. Republican leaders must stop denying and deflecting and finally do what this moment demands. My hand is open, ready to work together, now it’s time for someone to take it.

- Laura Haynes Gillam

President, ResilientPath Strategies

Former OMB Assistant Director for Climate, Environment, Energy, and Science Programs and Former Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Senior Advisor for Climate and Clean Air