The leaders of the United States and Britain could not be further apart on their climate and energy policies, the pomp of President Trump’s state visit notwithstanding.
President Trump has announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris agreement.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain has announced the most ambitious climate target of any industrial economy, committing to reduce his country’s climate pollution by 81 percent by 2035, compared with 1990 levels.
President Trump has called for the revival of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, including by ordering some old coal-burning power plants to stay open.
Britain closed its last coal plant last year, a move all the more symbolic for the birthplace of the industrial revolution over 150 years ago. Some old coal plant sites are being turned into battery farms to store energy drawn from solar and wind.
Their postures on renewable energy, which is broadly popular in both countries, are in sharp contrast.
President Trump has knee-capped government support for clean energy projects at home and earlier this year urged Britain to “get rid of the windmills and bring back the oil.”
Mr. Starmer has said he wants to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and produce the country’s electricity mainly from renewable energy sources by 2030. In 2024, Britain for the first time generated just over half (50.8 percent) of its energy from renewable sources, most of that from wind power.
The two leaders seem to agree on one thing: nuclear energy.
Mr. Starmer and Mr. Trump have struck a deal to build more nuclear plants in Britain. Nuclear energy produces no greenhouse gas emissions, though it comes with concerns about safety and waste disposal, and so it helps Britain advance its climate goals.
Mr. Starmer’s administration has promised to fast-track reviews of proposed new plants, while Mr. Trump has issued executive orders to speed up the approvals of nuclear reactors in the United States. Mr. Starmer seems to have borrowed from the Trump playbook, announcing the deal as ushering in a “golden age” of nuclear. The Trump administration has championed what it calls a “nuclear renaissance.”
Somini Sengupta is the international climate reporter on the Times climate team.
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