Welcome to Zero. I am Akshutrati. This week, back to the future.

Trump is back in the White House.

What will the next four years hold when it comes to energy and climate policy?

There are many ways to answer that question.

One is to look at recent history for some clues.

Trump began his first term by pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.

He's done that again.

And as he did in his first term, he's once again taken aim at environmental regulations.

But this time, he is going further,

declaring a national energy emergency

and promising that the US will double down

on domestic fossil fuel production.

I certainly feel deja vu.

We have heard this, but the circumstances are very different.

This week, as we've been thinking about the Biden to Trump transition,

we thought about traveling further back in time.

To replay what took place at the White House more than 40 years ago,

when Jimmy Carter's term ended and the new administration,

led by Ronald Reagan, promised to remake America.

They were absolutely committed to the idea that the U.S. needed to increase its production

of oil, gas, and coal, and that that was indispensable

for national security and for the economy. And any set of policies that got in the way of doing

...