On Nov. 5, 2025, the European Union (EU) officially amended the European Union Climate Law to include a binding, intermediate 2040 climate target of a 90% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions. The law also set the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
To achieve these goals, the EU has made monumental strides in terms of clean technology. Not only has the EU begun transitioning to clean energy sources and investing in emerging technologies such as fusion energy, but it has also begun capturing existing carbon in the atmosphere.
Methods for removing carbon include Direct Air Capture (DACCS), which pulls carbon directly from the atmosphere and stores it, BioCCS, which captures carbon from biological sources like plants and stores it, and Biochar, which turns plant material into a substance that can be stored in the soil.
This combination of strategies, which includes both reducing emissions and removing existing carbon, has already brought the EU to 37% below 1990 carbon levels. Yet across the Atlantic, the United States is taking a drastically different approach to a rapidly changing climate.
At the start of his second term, President Donald Trump made various significant cuts to climate policies. Rollback strategies have included reducing limits on power-plant pollution, cutting support for renewable energy, reducing funding for climate science and data, and more. Additionally, important U.S. climate reports, such as the National Climate Assessment, have disappeared from federal websites, making it difficult for people and policymakers to educate themselves and guide adaptation to climate change.
On Monday, March 23, President Trump made an agreement with a French energy company, TotalEnergies, which paid TotalEnergies nearly one billion dollars in exchange for the cancellation of wind farm projects and instead investing in American oil and gas.
Through the combination of cuts to climate research and increased support for fossil fuel projects, the Trump administration has made it clear that addressing climate change is not a priority. This approach stands in stark contrast to the EU and its recent trends towards increased climate protection and mitigation strategies.
While the EU is working to reduce emissions and climate-related impacts, the U.S. risks falling behind by scaling back projections. As the impacts of climate change become more and more severe, this growing divide between policies raises questions about responsibility, sustainability, and the long-term consequences of ignoring threats.
