Glembert
KN. United States President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal, his latest effort to boost demand for the fossil fuel amid its declining cost competitiveness and climate change concerns. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump directed the US Department of Defence to enter into long-term purchase agreements with coal-fired plants and prioritise the “preservation and strategic utilisation” of “coal-based energy assets”. Trump’s order did not specify how much energy the Pentagon would purchase or under what financial terms. Trump also announced that the US Department of Energy would invest $175m to upgrade six coal plants in North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.
Coal production in the US has been in decline for decades amid growing competition from natural gas and renewables, including wind, hydropower and solar. Production fell by more than half between 2008 and 2023, when output hit 578 million tonnes, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The fossil fuel accounted for about 16 percent of US energy production in 2023, behind natural gas and renewables at 43 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
Trump has championed the revival of “beautiful, clean coal” as crucial to boosting domestic manufacturing and achieving US dominance in artificial intelligence, despite the fossil fuel’s flagging competitiveness and contribution to greenhouse gases that drive climate change. Trump, who initiated Washington’s exit from the Paris climate accord and has described the scientific consensus on warming temperatures as a “con job”, declared an “energy emergency” on his first day in office to prevent the closure of ageing coal plants.
A 2023 analysis by Energy Innovation, a California-based nonprofit, found that 99 percent of coal-powered facilities in the US were more expensive to run than the cost of their replacement with renewable alternatives.
The US Energy Department has forced at least five plants to extend their operations beyond their scheduled retirement date since Trump’s order. Meanwhile, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the largest public utility provider in the US, voted to extend the lifespan of two coal plants that had been scheduled for closure by 2035.
The TVA vote came after the utility added four Trump appointees to its board of directors last month, after the US president had earlier fired three board members chosen by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
According to Trump’s oder has shown the Climate-Security Paradox: Strategic Competition, Fragile States, and the Erosion of Collective Security because according to the 30th United Nations climate conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil had concluded against a backdrop of increased global competition surrounding critical minerals, mounting climate-linked instability, and an erosion of collective security frameworks. The paradox is that global decarbonization intended to mitigate long-term security risks is simultaneously generating new sources of instability like illicit mining, particularly within fragile states, and exposing the limits of cooperative governance structures.
The geography of many critical minerals intersects with some of the world’s most unstable and volatile regions, making illicit networks and conflict a central part of the critical mineral supply chain. China’s entrenched dominance in processing and refining critical minerals continues to shape global supply chains, prompting the U.S., European Union, and like-minded partners to pursue diversification through bilateral deals with states in Africa, Latin America, and the Indo-Pacific. However, many of the states hosting these minerals like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Brazil, and Myanmar are afflicted by conflict, corruption, and/or weak governance, undermining the ability to establish transparent and sustainable supply chains.
The absence of an official delegation from the United States coupled with President Donald Trump’s decision to once again withdraw from the Paris Agreement has further deepened the departure of multilateralism.
With President Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement for a second time, the world’s largest historical emitter has not only stepped back from global climate leadership but also has removed itself from the core architecture of climate cooperation. U.S. disengagement sends a power signal: without American participation, financial commitments may dwindle, mitigation trajectories lose coherence, and the political space for coordinated global action narrows. This has also given China the opportunity to step up during COP30 and continue its dominance in the renewable energy sector.
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