PLEA Network

12 February 2026, Carbon Brief: Analysis: Trump has overseen larger coal decline than any other US president. Donald Trump has overseen a larger fall in coal-fired power capacity than any other US president, according to Carbon Brief analysis. His administration’s latest efforts to roll back US climate policy have been presented by interior secretary Doug Burgum as an opportunity to revive “clean, beautiful, American coal”. The administration is in the process of attempting to repeal the 2009 “endangerment” finding, which is the legal underpinning of many federal climate regulations. On 11 February, the White House issued an executive order on “America’s beautiful clean coal power generation fleet”, calling for government contracts and subsidies to keep plants open. On the same day, Trump was presented with a trophy by coal-mining executives declaring him to be the “undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal”. These words are in sharp contrast to Trump’s record in office, with a larger fall in coal-fired power capacity under his leadership than any other president, as shown in the figure below. This is because coal plants have been uneconomic to operate compared with cheaper gas and renewables – and because most of the US coal fleet is extremely old. Read more here