A recent Associated Press article(Green Energy Sources Hit Tipping Point for Lower Costs, 7/22/25) returned me to my most recent trip to Europe reminding me of two things. The first is the will and persistence it takes for creating and maintaining conditions for meaningful progress leading to a healthier environment. The second is the significant payoff for staying the course over the time it takes for policy initiatives and desired results to take effect. The magnificent twin towered Cologne Cathedral in Germany is a living example of sound environmental policy and efforts paying dividends on a micro and macro level. Let me explain…
My first visit to Cologne was in 2015. Then the cathedral was harder to appreciate with its shades of black and gray blending with centuries old sandstone, partly a result of acid rain. Additionally, one side of the cathedral was covered with scaffolding, a constant presence as it rotated around the structure to cleanse and restore its walls from hostile environmental conditions. Now, 10 years later and nine years into the Paris Climate Agreement, my return to the cathedral found it more reflective of a 13th century gothic structure with age old imperfections, but surviving nicely in a healthier environment.
One example of the environmental shift was the initiation of an urban beekeeping project beginning around the time of my first visit. It included installing beehives on the roof of the cathedral along with a supporting the surrounding parks and gardens. The effort allowed honeybees to thrive, producing honey that now helps sustain the cathedral’s maintenance and ecological projects. It launched in the hope that it would also support declining bee populations and promote environmental awareness.
It’s succeeded spectacularly and as one stone restorer noted, “The air is cleaner now, the moss and greenery grow faster, and the vegetation turns the cathedral into a large biotope.” The effort has scaled to larger degrees as well. In Germany, bees contribute $2.3 billion in economic benefits and are key to pollinating the abundant yellow rapeseed fields that dominate the countryside in the spring. Germany’s honey market honey produces over 625 million dollars of revenue a year and is growing at a rate of 3.7% annually. It’s one small example of national and local policy being in sync, producing positive economic and environmental outcomes.
Let’s compare Germany’s efforts for synchronizing environmental and economic policies to the shifting policies in the United States. We see laudable local community and individual state efforts to support recycling/composting, setting local conditions to support local farms and sustainability of natural resources, mitigating emissions, pollutants, etc. However while Germany and a host of other countries remained aligned with efforts outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement, the United States has experienced clashing policy positions from Trump’s first term(1917-21) to Biden(1921-25) then to even a more alarming environmental stance at the start of Trump’s second term.
Trump’s first day in office on 1/20/25 began with a second withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement as well as signing four additional executive orders severely curtailing and reversing environmental progress made during the Biden administration along with more measurable progress on the world stage these past ten years. One of those orders authorized the expediting and approval of fossil fuel, mining and infrastructure projects, circumventing the Clean Water Act requirements. A few weeks later he signed an executive order scrubbing “climate change” from federal websites.
Trumps actions come at a time when the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterras, said, “The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing.” He warned, “Nations hanging on to fossil fuels were heading down a dangerous path that would make them poorer, not richer.” His comments were in response to a UN report indicating that electricity worldwide generated from wind, solar and other green sources has increased by 74%.
We see this playing out over the past 10 years as we follow consistent versus inconsistent national policy. Several examples include:
- -Emissions Reduction- Europe has legally binding net zero targets by 2050(Germany by 2045) and has realized a 30% reduction from 1990 levels. The United States net zero target is not legally binding and has realized reductions of 10-12%.
- -Renewable Energy- By the end of 2025, renewables are expected to make up 45-50% of electricity generation in Europe while the United States renewables account for 25%.
- -Transportation- 25% of new car sales in Europe are EVs and new fossil fuel cars will be banned by 2035. In the U.S. EV sales make up 8% of the total and Europe invests significantly higher in public transportation.
Finally, Guterras noted that, “Countries clinging to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies; they’re sabotaging them.”
Our current federal policies regarding energy, natural resources, and the environment have put us in a race to the bottom economically and for the protection of our health and that of future generations. A clear reality informs us that that we can do better.