America: Supporters of the Paris Accord are struggling to meet climate commitments

America: Supporters of the Paris Accord are struggling to meet climate commitments



01-04-2018 11:34 AM

Baghdad News -
WASHINGTON (

Reuters) - US President Donald Trump continues to blow up environmental legislation inherited from the Barack Obama era, but supporters of the Paris Accord, the only country he pulled out of, still believe America will keep its promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The latest setback in this regard is the passing of tough legislation passed in 2012 under Obama's fuel consumption and pollution from vehicles sold in the United States. According to The New York Times, the Environmental Protection Agency (APA), managed by Scott Bruett, known for its support for the use of fossil energy sources, is expected to reconsider these standards.

This decision is added to the broad campaign launched by the agency in the fall to overturn the tight legislation on power plants known as the "Clean Power Plan." The plan, the cornerstone of Obama's climate policy, which he challenged in court, was supposed to begin in 2022, which would have shut down coal-fired and highly polluting stations to shut down. The Trump administration is seeking to completely eliminate this legislation.

All these instruments were at the core of President Barack Obama's commitment in 2015 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The specific target then was very simple, compared to the European Union. But if this legislation is repealed, the situation will become dangerous.

But the United States is a decentralized and politically divided country. States such as California and New York are in the hands of Democrats who are appalled by President Trump's approach to climate issues. Many, most recently UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterich, did not hide their hope that the United States would be able to meet its climate obligations despite the positions of its president.

Twenty states and about 100 cities and 1,000 companies have adopted targets with numbers, according to the "Americax Village" project launched by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and California Gov. Jerry Brown.

California alone exports a greenhouse gas equivalent to that of France, and has set ambitious reduction targets such as the European Union by 2030 (a 40 percent reduction compared to 1990).

But the question remains whether these bodies, however honest they are, can replace the federal states in full. It does not seem impossible for the economist at the Research for the Future Institute, Mark Hafstead, who ruled out that the United States could achieve these goals without a federal push. According to the Américas Bélage, states and cities that support the Paris Agreement only produce 35 percent of total emissions. Not including Texas, the largest contaminant in the country. The non-federal authorities will only allow half of the original target, according to the New Climate Institute. The Américas Bélage is expected to publish clearer figures in September on the occasion of the World Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

"We are moving in the right direction, but I can not predict the end of things in 2025," said economist Michel Mannion, an economist at the World Resources Institute. "Technological innovation could change the equation entirely. For nearly 10 years, no one imagined that natural gas prices would go down that much, according to the economic expert, or that the cost of solar panels would fall by 70 percent in seven years.

More important to Magnyon is that states continue to encourage the transition to a low-emission economy, either by setting up electric power stations or by adopting new building standards.

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