Climate 411

President Trump’s attack on independent Inspectors General

A group of former Inspectors General for eight federal agencies just sued President Trump for illegally firing them.

President Trump fired about 17 independent Inspectors General en masse in a two-sentence email released Friday night, January 24th – including the Inspectors General for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Department of Interior. This week, President Trump also fired the USAID Inspector General. Inspectors General are nonpartisan, and many of the 18 who have been fired were appointed by President Trump during his first term.

In the new lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, eight of the fired Inspectors General – for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Education, Agriculture, and Labor, and the Small Business Administration – point out that President Trump violated the law by failing to provide 30 days’ notice to Congress and failing to provide the statutorily required explanation for the dismissals.

Under the Inspector General Act on 1978, the president must provide Congress advance notice and explanation in order to remove an inspector general. Just days after the mass firings, the Congressional Research Service updated its report on Removal of Inspectors General to state, “It is not yet clear how President Trump’s action on January 26, 2025, will ultimately be resolved,” and that “it does not appear that the Administration followed the congressional notice and waiting period requirements laid out in the IG Act.”

Here are a few examples of why President Trump’s purge of our national Inspectors General, and this lawsuit challenging it, are so important.

Inspectors General play an essential role in illuminating government fraud and wrongdoing

Inspectors General play a key role in ensuring accountability within federal agencies, including ensuring that those agencies ensure transparency and follow proper processes.

For instance, during the first Trump Administration, the EPA Inspector General investigated and uncovered numerous legal and process violations at the agency, including:

  • An improper rollback of air pollution standards for cars and trucks

An audit completed in 2021 by EPA’s Inspector General confirmed that the first Trump administration violated transparency, record-keeping, and other procedural requirements while rolling back federal Clean Air Act standards to limit air pollution from vehicles.

The EPA Inspector General’s report documented EPA’s failure to conduct technical analyses, follow established processes, and provide transparency in its actions and assumptions. The report also stated that “EPA did not follow its established process for developing regulatory actions,” including a failure to “conduct analysis related to executive orders on the impacts of modified GHG standards on vulnerable populations.”

That audit was prompted in part by a request from Senator Carper, demonstrating that Inspectors General can play an important role in investigating concerns identified by Members of Congress.

  • A flawed and dangerous lead-based paint strategy

In 2019, EPA’s Inspector General found that the first Trump administration’s lead-based paint strategy focused on shallow public relations efforts rather than actually protecting children’s health.

The Inspector General’s report described EPA’s failure to effectively implement and enforce the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. That rule was designed to protect children from dust or chips of lead-based paint. Lead poisoning causes serious health problems, particularly for children’s brain development, and there is no safe level of exposure. In 1978, the U.S. banned lead-based paint for residential use, but the paint is still commonly found in houses built before 1978.

The Inspector General’s report found that EPA’s program lacked sufficient “objectives, goals and measurable outcomes to track progress and determine accountability,” and that “[e]ffective oversight and enforcement are needed to further reduce lead exposures from renovation, repair and painting activities.”

  • More legal loopholes and scandals

During the first Trump administration, the EPA Inspector General helped create accountability for the agency’s unlawful attempts to create a loophole for super-polluting glider trucks.

The EPA Inspector General also scrutinized Administrator Scott Pruitt’s many scandals, including spending taxpayer money on lavish travel and a $43,000 phone booth. These episodes illustrate the unique and crucial role that Inspectors General play in protecting the public from government corruption.

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Ecuador Announces Milestone in Halting Tropical Deforestation

Inés María Manzano, Minister of Environment, Water, and Ecological Transition of Ecuador and Eron Bloomgarden, CEO Emergent (LEAF Coalition) at the official signing event in Ecuador, January 29,2025. Photo by Santiago Garcia, EDF.

By Santiago García Lloré, Senior Manager of IPLC and Conservation Partnerships at EDF.

Ecuador is one of nine countries in the Amazon rainforest. It is also known as one of the most biodiverse countries in the world — its unique ecological heritage includes the famous Galápagos Islands.

Following Costa Rica, Ghana, and the State of Para in Brazil, Ecuador signed an Emissions Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) under the LEAF Coalition’s carbon finance framework to reduce 3 million tons of carbon emissions in exchange for $30M. (3 million tons of carbon emissions roughly equal the annual emissions of about 570,000 average passenger cars.)

The deal covers four Ecuadorian jurisdictions and is a shining example of deploying carbon finance that advances equitable participation from diverse groups. In Ecuador’s case, this process has resulted in the inclusion of Afro-Ecuadorian communities, who, like many other Indigenous communities in the region, have traditionally been marginalized. This showcases progress toward a more inclusive and representative model.

EDF has been privileged to support Ecuador in this journey over the past several years. Our efforts have focused on building the technical capacity, policy frameworks, and stakeholder engagement processes needed to bring this ambitious program to life. Here are a few things we’ve learned that are critical to ensuring integrity and bolstering climate ambition.

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In first auction after voters defended the program, Washington’s cap-and-invest brings in record high revenue for the year

Photo: Pixabay

Last month, Washingtonians voted to protect their landmark cap-and-invest program, showing support for the program’s strong limit on pollution and game-changing investments. Thanks to this resounding win, the cap-and-invest program continues to deliver for Washington communities — with today’s results bringing in record revenue for the year.

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As the U.S. braces for environmental attacks, it’s up to states to lead on climate

Source: Pexels

With anticipated environmental rollbacks at the federal level, the U.S. needs states to act on climate in order to make progress towards the nation’s 2030 commitments. Luckily, there are already signs of momentum. A landslide victory in Washington state to protect its climate law sends a hopeful message that ambitious climate action at the state level is not only possible — it’s popular. This result in Washington should give state leaders across the country confidence to move forward with bold action at a moment when it’s needed the most. Here’s what to know about the power of state-level action and a few highlights to watch out for in 2025.

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California auction results underscore need for ambition and certainty in cap-and-trade market

Photo: Pexels

Results were released today for California’s fourth cap-and-trade auction of the year, which was administered last week by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Auction prices in the joint California-Quebec market (known as the Western Climate Initiative, or WCI) have trended downward this year, reflecting growing uncertainty among market participants about how best to plan their compliance strategies in the absence of regulatory or legislative clarity. A clear commitment to ambitious reductions in climate pollution and long-term market stability are urgently needed.

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Solving the Adaptation Finance Gap: Plans are in Place, but Funding Falls Short

The UN climate talks, COP29, is well underway, and countries have entered final negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), a new climate finance goal to boost funding for climate action in developing countries. Reaching agreement on the goal may be difficult in the face of the U.S election results, but it remains an urgent priority. 

One glaring finance gap that we need to address in the new goal is finance for climate adaptation. Adaptation is how governments and communities prepare for and adjust to the impacts of climate change. It’s about making changes to reduce or prevent the harm caused by climate impacts like rising sea levels, more frequent storms, and hotter temperatures. 

According to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), adaptation needs are not being met worldwide. Developing countries will need $215 billion per year over the next decade for their adaptation priorities, from building climate resilient infrastructure to restoring ecosystems. Yet international finance flows for adaptation were just $28 billion in 2022 – an increase over prior years, but nowhere near enough.  

Transformational adaptation requires closing the finance gap and maximizing the impact of every dollar. 

Where is the world falling behind on adaptation? 

Many developing countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, and the good news is that they are prioritizing efforts to build resilience. UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report found that 87% of countries have at least one national adaptation planning instrument in place, compared to around just 50% a decade ago. These instruments include National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and other strategies or policies that guide adaptation. 

Now time for the bad news: although planning has improved, there is a growing gap in implementation as countries lack the necessary finance to meet their objectives. Adaptation has consistently been underfunded compared to mitigation, and while developed countries are working to double adaptation finance, the current $28 billion in annual flows represents just 13% of the $215 billion needed annually. 

[Source: UNEP Adaptation Gap Report 2024] 

The lack of finance for adaptation has serious implications for many developing countries, especially small island states which urgently need international support to strengthen resilience. For example, the Caribbean nation of Dominica is installing early warning systems to improve preparedness and reduce the impact of future hurricanes, but by 2023 they had only installed three systems and need 50 more to adequately cover the island. Without sufficient adaptation finance, the country will remain highly exposed to sudden climate shocks. 

This finance gap is further complicated by limited private sector engagement in adaptation. UNEP finds that many transformational adaptation projects are seen as risky by private investors, due to their longer time frame for benefits and less clear return on investment. Private finance does flow to projects in infrastructure and commercial agriculture, but often not without efforts by the public sector to de-risk investments. 

It is not surprising that two-thirds of adaptation financing needs are anticipated to be financed by the public sector. But the quality of public finance for adaptation has room for improvement as well. 62% of public finance for adaptation is delivered through loans, of which 25% are non-concessional, or at market rate with no favorable terms. And the use of non-concessional loans for adaptation in most vulnerable countries has actually increased in recent years. These tools have the potential to drive up the debt burden in developing nations which are already struggling to pay the bills. Expanding grant and concessional finance will be important to mitigate these challenges. 

How do we unlock quality adaptation finance? 

The Adaptation Gap Report suggests that filling the finance gap will require several enabling factors that can unlock new finance flows. Notably, in EDF’s new report ‘Quality Matters: Strengthening Climate Finance to Drive Climate Action,’ we identify similar strategies as we call for structural reforms within the international climate finance system. Three key recommendations overlap in both reports. 

First, countries need to mainstream their climate objectives and adaptation goals within national planning and budgeting processes. This integration should be paired with robust stakeholder engagement that systematically includes subnational authorities, marginalized groups and potential implementing entities in the planning process. Doing so will better align adaptation activities with other national priorities and create more fundable projects. Moreover, planning processes should emphasize project evaluation and evidence gathering to better understand what interventions are most impactful and maximize the potential of climate resources. 

Second, countries should adopt investment planning approaches to climate action. Specifically, they should work to develop a pipeline of bankable projects that can meet the objectives within their NAPs and other planning instruments. This can help attract investors to projects and ensure successful implementation of adaptation plans. 

Third, multilateral financial institutions including multilateral development banks (MDBs) and climate funds need to undergo structural reform to improve the quality of finance. The MDBs are currently pursuing reforms to become better fit-for-purpose for addressing the climate crisis, and at COP29 they jointly announced that their collective climate finance will reach $120 billion by 2030 – though only $42 billion will be dedicated for adaptation. Improving the balance between mitigation and adaptation finance will be important to ensure that developing countries’ priorities don’t go unfunded. Additional actions these institutions can take include strengthening the concessionality of terms for adaptation projects to alleviate debt burdens and spark new blended finance opportunities, and leveraging innovative instruments like adaptation swaps which can foster positive adaptation outcomes in exchange for forgiving debt. 

The NCQG is an important milestone which has the potential to advance action on these reforms and strengthen adaptation finance flows. Alongside supporting a strong quantitative goal, countries should call for improvements in the quality of finance, to ensure that finance for adaptation projects is available, accessible, concessional, and impactful. 

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