Trump’s Climate Rollback Starts Now, But Won’t Erase Carbon Cuts

As Donald Trump begins another term as US president, environmentalists are dreading the effects of his vows to “drill, baby, drill,” yank the US out of the Paris Agreement, end tax credits for electric vehicles and more.

But climate and energy data from Trump’s first term cuts two ways. At least some of these promises will be met, slowing US progress on reining in greenhouse gas emissions. Yet there are clear indicators that a climate skeptic in the White House can’t completely undo the nation’s roughly two-decades-long decline in emissions.

Whatever Trump does, “it’s not going to ...