When the Government Rolls Back Climate Policy, Your Money Still Has Power

By GreenFi Editorial Team

It’s been a tough stretch for anyone who cares about the environment. Over the past year, the federal government has moved to weaken or roll back more than 300 environmental and energy regulations.^¹ The EPA is targeting the endangerment finding that has underpinned federal climate rules for over 15 years.^² The U.S. has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement. Offshore wind projects have been paused. NOAA funding has been frozen.^³

If that makes you feel powerless, you’re not alone. But here’s the part that doesn’t get enough attention: the most powerful climate tools available to everyday Americans have nothing to do with who’s in the White House.

The policy picture right now

Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center has tracked 304 deregulatory actions in just the first year of the current administration, compared to 75 in the same period of the first Trump term.^¹ The Center for Biological Diversity reports that more than half of the environmental rollbacks outlined in Project 2025 have already been completed, and roughly 2,000 EPA staff have been lost.^⁴

NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity estimates that $21.7 billion in annual health benefits are at risk from the regulatory rollbacks already in progress.^⁵ And tariffs on solar panels, wind turbines, and EV components are raising costs for clean energy across the board.^⁶

It’s a lot. And it would be easy to throw up your hands and assume nothing you do matters.

The good news: Americans haven’t stopped caring

Despite the political headwinds, public support for climate action hasn’t budged. According to Yale’s Program on Climate Change Communication, 61% of registered voters believe developing clean energy should be a high or very high priority for the government.^⁷ And 87% support federal funding to help farmers improve soil health and sequester carbon.^⁷

Yale’s Six Americas analysis from Fall 2025 found that the number of Americans “Alarmed” about climate change outnumbers the “Dismissive” by more than 2 to 1.^⁸ And 59% of registered voters say they’d prefer a candidate who supports action on global warming.^⁹

The takeaway: the public appetite for climate solutions hasn’t gone away. What’s shifted is where that action is happening. It’s moving from Washington to states, cities, businesses, and individual wallets.

Your wallet is a climate tool (a powerful one)

You may not be able to rewrite federal energy policy. But you can control where your money goes. And that matters more than most people realize.

The world’s 65 largest banks committed $869 billion to fossil fuel companies in 2024.^¹⁰ That money came from customer deposits. Your checking account, your savings, your direct deposit paycheck. When you bank with a traditional big bank, up to 30% of your deposits could be financing fossil fuel projects.^¹¹

Moving your money to a fossil-fuel-free bank can reduce the carbon intensity of your deposits by 76%, according to Project Drawdown.^¹¹ That’s more than twice the climate impact of switching to a vegetarian diet. And unlike changing your diet, you don’t have to give anything up.

Five things you can do right now (no legislation required)

1. Move your money. Switch to a bank that doesn’t lend your deposits to fossil fuel companies. It only takes a few minutes and it’s one of the highest-impact personal climate actions available.

2. Spend with your values. Support climate-friendly brands. Look for certifications like B Corp, Climate Label, or 1% for the Planet. Cash back programs that reward sustainable spending make this even easier.

3. Make your spare change count. Round-up programs that fund tree restoration turn everyday purchases into climate action. Every swipe adds up.

4. Invest in what you believe in. Sustainable and ESG-aligned funds let you put your long-term savings behind companies that are part of the solution, not the problem.

5. Talk about it. Research shows that social influence is one of the most powerful drivers of climate behavior change. When you tell a friend you switched banks or started investing sustainably, you multiply your impact.

This isn’t about replacing policy. It’s about not waiting for it.

Government policy matters. Regulations, incentives, and international agreements are critical to addressing climate change at scale. Nobody is saying individual action is a substitute.

But waiting for Washington isn’t a strategy. It’s a recipe for paralysis. And right now, clean energy deployment is still growing. Over 90% of new U.S. power capacity additions in 2025 came from clean energy sources, much of it on private land where federal policy couldn’t block it.^⁹ States are passing their own climate legislation. Businesses are investing in sustainability because it makes economic sense.

Individual financial decisions are part of that momentum. Every dollar you move away from fossil fuel banking is a dollar that can’t finance the next pipeline. Every purchase you make at a climate-friendly brand is a market signal. Every tree you fund through a round-up program pulls carbon from the atmosphere.

The bottom line

The federal government may be stepping back from climate action. But you don’t have to. Your money is one of the most powerful climate tools you have, and nobody in Washington can take that away from you.

Ready to put your money where your values are? Open a GreenFi account and keep your deposits out of fossil fuels.^†

Frequently Asked Questions

What climate policies have been rolled back?

Since January 2025, the federal government has initiated more than 300 deregulatory actions targeting environmental and energy regulations, including efforts to reverse the EPA’s endangerment finding, pause offshore wind development, and weaken emissions standards for power plants and vehicles.^¹,²,³

Do individual climate actions actually make a difference?

Yes. Where you keep your money is one of the most impactful climate choices you can make. Moving your deposits from a fossil-fuel-intensive bank to a climate-responsible one can reduce your banking carbon footprint by 76%.^¹¹ Collective consumer choices also send market signals that shift business behavior.

Do Americans still care about climate change?

Yes. Yale’s Climate Change Communication research shows that 61% of registered voters want clean energy to be a high priority, 87% support funding for soil health and carbon sequestration, and 59% would prefer to vote for a candidate who supports climate action.^⁷,⁹

What is the easiest climate action I can take today?

Switching to a fossil-fuel-free bank. It only takes a few minutes, costs nothing, and research shows it has more than twice the climate impact of switching to an electric vehicle.^¹¹

Can I fight climate change without spending more money?

Absolutely. Switching banks is free. Many sustainable banking options offer competitive interest rates, no mandatory fees, and cash back at climate-friendly brands. You can fight climate change and save money at the same time.

Sources

¹ Columbia Law School, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Climate Backtracker: One Year of Trump 2.0. (Jan 2026). https://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2026/01/26/one-year-of-trump-2-0-updates-from-the-climate-backtracker/

² Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. YPCCC Insights on Climate Change and the 2026 U.S. Primaries. (Apr 2026). https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/ypccc-resources-on-2026-primary-elections/

³ Climate Action Campaign. Trump’s Climate and Clean Energy Rollback Tracker. (Updated 2026). https://www.actonclimate.com/trumptracker/

⁴ Center for Biological Diversity. First Year of Trump 2.0 Brought Near Irreversible Environmental Destruction. (Jan 2026). https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/first-year-of-trump-20-brought-near-irreversible-environmental-destruction-2026-01-12/

⁵ NYU Institute for Policy Integrity. Tracking the Damages of Regulatory Rollbacks. (Updated Feb 2026). https://policyintegrity.org/tracking-regulatory-rollbacks

⁶ MIT Technology Review. Trump’s Tariffs Will Deliver a Big Blow to Climate Tech. (Apr 2025). https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/03/1114209/trumps-tariffs-will-deliver-a-big-blow-to-climate-tech/

⁷ Yale Program on Climate Change Communication & George Mason University. Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2025. (Dec 2025). https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-in-the-american-mind-politics-policy-fall-2025/toc/3/

⁸ Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Global Warming’s Six Americas, Fall 2025. (Feb 2026). https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/global-warmings-six-americas-fall-2025/

⁹ Yale Climate Connections. Where Things Stand on Climate Change in 2026. (Jan 2026). https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/01/where-things-stand-on-climate-change-in-2026/

¹⁰ Banking on Climate Chaos 2025 Report. Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, BankTrack, et al. (Jun 2025). https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/

¹¹ Alexander, J.B., Moinester, P., and Kraus-Polk, J. (2023). Saving [for] the Planet: The Climate Power of Personal Banking. Project Drawdown & Topo Finance. https://drawdown.org/news/insights/new-report-how-personal-banking-impacts-the-climate

Disclosures

† GreenFi is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking Services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. The GreenFi Debit Mastercard® is issued by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license by Mastercard International Incorporated. FDIC insurance only covers the failure of an FDIC-insured bank. FDIC insurance is available through pass-through insurance at Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, if certain conditions have been met.