The leaders of the United States and Britain could not be further apart on their climate and energy policies, the pomp of President Trump’s state visit notwithstanding. President Trump has announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris agreement. President Trump has called for the revival of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, including by ordering some old coal-burning power plants to stay open. Britain closed its last coal plant last year, a move all the more symbolic for the birthplace of the industrial revolution over 150 years ago. Some old coal plant sites are being turned into battery farms to store energy drawn from solar and wind.
