While President Donald Trump has enacted mass rollbacks on climate policy at the federal level, Boston University’s climate research programs and sustainability groups have continued to educate and advocate.
Climate policy has been rapidly uprooted since the Trump administration took office in January. Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, becoming one of only four countries to leave the pact that intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The administration has since made sweeping climate policy changes, including funding freezes to clean energy projects, removing climate change-related pages on government websites and enacting mass federal employee layoffs from departments including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Nathan Phillips, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Earth and Environment, said he believes the layoffs are “a disaster,” and his own research and grant access are potentially at risk due to the Trump administration’s changes.
He said his access to research funding could be threatened by the use of AI software that filters through grant applications, immediately disqualifying those that include specific keywords.
“If they contain the word climate, if they contain the word diversity, even biodiversity … that grant is cancelled or won’t be reviewed,” he said.
However, Phillips said he will continue submitting grant applications despite these rollbacks.
Trump’s restrictions on research could impact many BU programs, such as the University’s 2017 Climate Action Plan, which outlined efforts to combat climate change.
The CAP emphasized the importance of research and education on climate change, but the mass layoffs under the Trump administration could lead to gaps in data collection and subsequent issues with research initiatives, according to the New York Times.
Another program outlined in the CAP is the BU Wind Project, which intends to help BU reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040.
“The biggest contribution to that [emissions] reduction is the BU Wind Project, which was launched in 2020 and matches 100% of the University’s electricity and cuts the University’s emissions by 53%,” BU Sustainability’s Assistant Director of Communications Sam Moller wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press.
Trump not only halted approvals for wind farms on public land and federal waters, but also threatened to block plans for wind farms on private land. Wind energy is the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S.
Students have also expressed concern about the lasting impact of Trump’s climate policy, particularly for those who will soon graduate and be on the search for environment-related fields.
Junior Bethany Hartman, co-president of the environmental fraternity Epsilon Eta, said she is “absolutely” worried how layoffs could affect both data collection and EH members looking for career and research opportunities.
Junior and EH Co-President Gabi Jiménez said many of their members are interested or currently involved in research, making Trump’s actions a “scary threat.”
“It could mean the end of some people’s careers,” Jiménez said. “Especially in the environmental sector, research is the fundamentals behind the policy.”
Despite concerns, Moller wrote that BU “remains on track and is committed to reaching its goal of net zero direct emissions by 2040.” The University has reduced emissions by 65% since 2006.
EH and other sustainability groups at BU are also continuing their community and advocacy work.
“We’ve been contacting representatives about the recent mass firings for the National Park Service,” Jiménez said. “That’s something that’s really important to us.”
Hartman said EH also wrote letters to Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey expressing concern about federal funding cuts.
“As a fraternity, it’s important for us to keep each other up to date on what’s happening and see how our individual choices are going to impact society as a whole and how we can really be the leaders to initiate a lot of these changes,” Hartman said.
Senior Indrani Malhotra, president of the Environmental Student Organization, wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press that much of ESO’s service is dedicated to educating members and building a “community surrounding sustainability,” allowing people to “engage in environmentalism and feel empowered to make a difference on the local-scale.”
EH and ESO are committed to not stop working, and instead work harder, in the face of changes by the Trump administration.
“Despite the Administration’s hostility towards sustainability, ESO and many other environmentally-focused student groups on campus are committed to continuing and expanding the work that we do,” Malhotra wrote.
Jiménez said EH will likely continue its efforts to reach out to representatives and expand on its commitment to community service.
“If anything, we’re probably going to increase the amount of environmental things we do, especially community service because that’s really going to be hurt by this kind of policy,” Jiménez said.
