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America is Falling Behind On Its Paris Climate Pledge (technologyreview.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The US remains well behind pace to meet its commitments to cut greenhouse-gas emissions under the landmark Paris climate agreement. Under current policies, the nation will reduce climate pollution between 12 and 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, according to a Rhodium Group analysis published today. That's well below the 26 to 28 percent target agreed to under the Paris accords. The report estimates that total emissions between 2020 and 2030 could be 196 million metric tons lower than Rhodium projected last year. That's due to an increase in the number of planned coal plant closures, as well as the falling costs of natural gas, renewables, and electric vehicles. Slower economic growth forecasts were also a factor.
Quick - throw money at the Chinese to make solar panels for other people for... environment!!
The source, Rhodium group, is a very pro-China, pro-China monopoly on alternative energy think tank.
Don't take my word for it. Look at the Rhodium group staff profiles and see what other paid positions they hold. It's not hard to see that this is a poorly veiled arm of the Chinese state propaganda wing.
and the treaty is a FUCKING joke.
It will not solve anything since as fast as America drops our emissions, China is adding 2-3x as much. Unless ALL nations are dropping their emissions, this will never work. EVER. At the very least, it requires that nations quit building new coal plants, if not new fossil fuel plants. Yet, China, Germany, Japan, S. Korea, most of Eastern Europe, continue to build new coal plants.
America has stopped with coal and will likely continue to cut our CO2 by cutting coal (way too expensive).
BTW, the report assumes that our EVs continues to grow slowly. Just this year alone, America will leap into #1 position of buying EVs, or just behind China. Why? Tesla model 3.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The President did get consent from Senate to the agreement. In 1992. The Senate consented to membership with the UNFCCC on June 4th, 1992. In their consent they gave the President, who was then Bush #1, the ability to agree to whatever, so long as it was within the framework of the UNFCCC.
Fast forward a lot, the Paris Agreement is drafted within the UNFCCC framework. Which, oh looky there, the Senate already gave the President broad authority to agree to whatever under that framework. Huh, funny how giving away power so broadly usually isn't good for the Senate. Gee, maybe the Senate ought to rethink the last 40 years of slowly giving the President the ability to do everything without their say.
The Senate got bamboozled, they need to man up and perhaps while they are at it, strip some of the power they've given the President over the last four decades. They can start with national security tariffs, the WTO memberships and judgeship, NATO bylaw changes, and UN special diplomatic mission assignments for starters. The Senate bemoans pretty much everything the President does when it doesn't serve the majority's interest. Well how about not letting the President have that power? Ya think?!
I'm more pissed at crybaby nation that is the Senate than anything else within the US government. I mean seriously, you're the upper house, grow some damn balls people!
How very U.S. centric of this article.
According to Carbon Brief, which is tracking all the Paris pledges, the U.S., made a pledge, but unlike most countries, never legally ratified their pledge. Also, unlike the U.S., the vast majority of those countries haven't decreased their carbon output as much as the U.S. in the years since.
So the Paris Accords are useless for anything but virtue signaling and political posturing. Of course, that was predicted at the time they were negotiated, so not a surprise.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.