Trudeau 2.0 Wants Net Zero—Trump Wants Coal

One Nation’s War on Reality, And Another’s Embrace of It

Canada’s new prime minister has a plan.

Not to grow the economy. Not to strengthen national security. Not even to fix the housing crisis or rising crime.

Nope. Mark Carney wants to save the planet.

This short clip from his speech at the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) tells you everything you need to know about his priorities:

Here’s the gist:

You demanded action, and now it's time for the financial sector to deliver. To reach net zero, every country, every company, every bank, every investor, every pension fund around the world will need to make some big changes…

Let’s reshape finance for a sustainable world.

Former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England…

Deep ties to the World Economic Forum (WEF)…

One of the architects of the WEF’s “stakeholder capitalism” doctrine…

Carney is basically Trudeau 2.0—only on steroids… and with an even bigger appetite for top-down economic control.

And now he’s in charge.

Carney is probably the most devout climate zealot ever elected to national office. For instance, he’s argued that Canada must spend $2 trillion by 2050 to meet its climate goals.

Well, we already know how this story ends.

Remember Spain?

After years of gutting coal and nuclear while pouring billions into wind and solar, renewables made up nearly two-thirds of its grid by late 2024.

The result? A nationwide blackout (on April 28, 2025). 15 gigawatts vanished in minutes. Trains stopped. Hospitals scrambled. Spain became a case study in what happens when ideology outruns engineering.

But as I wrote in the latest issue of Crisis Investing, this isn’t just a Spain (or Canada) problem. It’s a Western problem…. and it’s entirely self-inflicted.

The Odd One Out

But there’s one country that’s going in the opposite direction.

America.

Love him or hate him, Trump is setting the stage for an energy revival. One built on actual baseload power — not fantasy.

Note: Baseload power refers to the steady, reliable kind of electricity that’s always on and always available. It’s the backbone of the grid—the power you can count on to meet consistent, round-the-clock demand.

On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to unshackle America’s energy sector. Now he’s following through... and he’s putting one fuel back at the center of the nation’s energy strategy: coal.

Within days of taking office, he declared a national energy emergency and signed a sweeping executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy.”

Then came a wave of actions that changed the game for coal:

• Four executive orders aimed at boosting coal production and use—fast-tracking leases, slashing red tape, and invoking emergency powers to keep older coal plants online.

• The designation of coal as a “critical mineral,” unlocking fast-track permitting and national security protections.

• Rollbacks of anti-coal regulations—including Obama-era moratoriums and emissions rules.

• A new export push, support for clean coal technologies, and streamlined permitting for coal infrastructure.

• Over $200 billion in low-cost federal financing through the DOE’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program—now open to coal projects.

• And just last month, a new directive: Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful, Clean Coal Industry. This order amended Executive Order 14241 to prioritize regulatory reform, promote clean coal, and modernize coal infrastructure in the name of energy security.

It’s the clearest 180° I’ve seen in years.

Back in Step with Reality

But in many ways, this isn’t radical at all — it’s just America realigning with the rest of the world.

Because globally, coal still dominates. Yes, as you can see in the next chart, coal is still the most-used fuel for making electricity around the world.

Back in 2018, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted we’d never surpass coal’s 2014 peak. But by 2023, they had to eat their words — global coal demand hit a record 8.5 billion tons. Now, even the EIA expects demand to plateau through at least 2027, not decline. I think they’ll be eating their words again.

And it’s not hard to see why. In many ways, coal remains the most practical baseload power source out there. Just look at the alternatives:

• Nuclear: Clean and consistent, but expensive, inflexible, and politically charged.

• Natural gas: Fast-ramping and cleaner than coal, but reliant on pipeline infrastructure.

• Hydro: Great where it works, but geography- and climate-dependent.

• Geothermal: Excellent baseload, but limited to specific geologies.

So when you hear people knocking coal, they’re either green zealots — not worth arguing with — or just in the dark about its many advantages (thanks, media).

Now, can some of Trump’s pro-coal executive orders be challenged in court?

Sure. And some likely will be — especially by blue states or environmental groups. Certain provisions could get delayed, diluted, or blocked if they’re found to skirt laws like NEPA or the Clean Air Act.

But here’s the thing: no court ruling can reverse a political tidal wave.

What Trump’s doing isn’t symbolic — it’s a full-blown policy pivot. And it’s already reshaping capital flows, market sentiment, and investor expectations across the entire energy sector.

Regards,

Lau Vegys

P.S. If you’re a paid subscriber and missed it, we featured a U.S. coal producer in the latest issue of Crisis Investing—uniquely positioned to benefit from Trump’s pro-coal energy policies and America’s rising power demand—while paying a double-digit yield along the way. And if you aren’t one, I’d still encourage you to check out our lead story on Spain’s blackout. It takes a closer look at how the country’s renewables-led energy experiment went off the rails.