EPA nominee says US should adapt to, not mitigate, climate change

President Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) office in charge of climate change and air pollution said Wednesday that the U.S. should “adapt to” rather than try to minimize climate change.

Aaron Szabo’s comment came during questions from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. 

“What are key climate tipping points that you would watch in your position to try to avoid?” Whitehouse asked.

“I believe that the climate is changing. I believe that it is important for us to adapt to any change, including those that occur with respect to climate,” said Szabo, who, if confirmed, will lead the EPA’s Air and Radiation office. 

“Not to mitigate to prevent it, just to adapt to it?” Whitehouse asked. 

“I’m currently — and if confirmed — am bound by the laws that Congress has established,” Szabo replied. 

Whitehouse then asked him if people are “now on a pathway to climate safety, or do we need to do more to reduce carbon emissions in order to get out of that pathway?”

“I believe that we need to be adapting to all changes, including those to the climate,” Szabo replied. 

The phrase “climate adaptation” typically refers to actions that stem the impacts, but not the causes of climate change, such as building infrastructure to withstand flooding or other climate-change-related extreme weather. Scientists have expressed that both adaptation and a reduction in planet-warming emissions need to occur in order to prevent the worst impacts.

Szabo’s comments come after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin reportedly recommended overturning the EPA’s finding that climate change poses a danger to public health.

While the confirmation hearing for Szabo, as well as deputy administrator nominee David Fotouhi, had some tense moments surrounding climate change, on the whole, it appeared very perfunctory. 

Only 10 of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s 19 members showed up to the hearing to question the nominees. 

Despite both having worked to prevent regulations of toxic substances, neither received questions about it, though Whitehouse did mention Fotouhi’s prior job at “a prominent white shoe law firm, defending a raft of big polluting interests, including Chevron and Sunoco.”

But the nominee did not receive questions for his work opposing the EPA’s recent ban on asbestos or defending company International Paper in lawsuits accusing it of “forever chemical” pollution. 

Szabo was similarly not questioned on his work lobbying for the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade group; the sterilization industry on issues related to its use of toxic gas ethylene oxide or “forever chemical” manufacturer Chemours on issues related to those substances, some of which have been linked to cancer. 

However, Szabo did face scrutiny over his work on Project 2025, a conservative policy playbook.

He also faced further questions on climate change — and declined to say that the U.S. should reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. 

“I believe, once again, that we can adapt to the potential impacts to climate change without causing potential issues to our reliance on our natural resources within this country,” Szabo said.