United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order on 28 March requiring a review of one of the main measures to combat climate change introduced by his predecessor Barack Obama. The measure in question is the Clean Power Plan: a plan that, among other things, requires the country's power plants to reduce their CO2 emissions.

During a brief speech delivered at the headquarters of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Environmental Protection Agency, EPA), Trump forcefully reiterated his intention to "put an end to the war on coal". The White House occupant did not mention the word climate even once. "Through this executive order I'm signing today," the American billionaire declared, "I am taking historic action to lift the restrictions on American energy, to end the job-killing regulations and to eliminate government intrusion."

Donald Trump also eliminates subsidies for renewables

The Clean Power Plan represented the cornerstone of Obama's environmental policies. The programme aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy production across the entire United States by 32 per cent by 2020. The regulation also granted subsidies to renewable energy sources in order to accelerate the energy transition process. The plan had, however, been suspended in February 2016, following a legal challenge filed by 27 US states, the large majority of them Republican. The judicial proceedings required a ruling by the Supreme Court.