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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

US states to meet climate goals despite Trump

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Ivan Couronne -


US President Donald Trump has taken an axe to the environmental regulations he inherited from his predecessor Barack Obama, cutting dozens of rules ranging from fracking on public land to protections for endangered species.


Yet, supporters of the Paris climate change accord believe state-level efforts could mean the US will meet greenhouse gas emissions targets envisaged under the landmark agreement.


Automobile fuel and emission standards are the latest regulations in the administration’s crosshairs, according to a report by the New York Times.


The paper reported Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt, a climate change sceptic with ties to the fossil fuel industry, determined Obama-era controls placed too great a burden on manufacturers.


It comes on the heels of the EPA’s announcement last fall it was seeking to repeal the Clean Power Plan, Obama’s signature environmental policy that would have limited each state’s greenhouse-gas emissions.


The Trump administration has vowed to bury it for good.


These and other regulations constituted the building blocks of Obama’s plan to fulfil US commitments to the 2015 pact.


The targets, which were already modest compared to those of the European Union, are clearly in danger.


But the United States’ federal system of government and polarised political climate offer hope: states like California and New York are governed by opposition Democrats horrified by their Republican president’s stance on global climate change, and are taking steps to oppose it.


It was for these reasons that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was the most recent figure to suggest “there are expectations” the US will meet its erstwhile commitments, with or without Trump’s blessing.


Twenty of the 50 states, some hundred cities and a thousand companies have already set targets for reducing the greenhouse effect, according to America’s Pledge, an initiative launched by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and the California Governor Jerry Brown.


California on its own is responsible for about the same amount of greenhouse gases as France, and is gunning for a 40-per cent reduction in its emissions by 2030 compared with the 1990 levels.


But the question remains: can action taken by certain jurisdictions and firms be a complete substitute for federal legislation at the centre?


“It’s not impossible, but it’s improbable that the US can meet its objectives with no further federal action,” Marc Hafstead, an economist at Resources for the Future, a non-profit research institute, said.


According to America’s Pledge, those states and cities which back the Paris agreement contribute only 35 per cent of the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.


Texas, the country’s biggest polluter, is not a part of the movement.


The combined efforts of non-federal jurisdictions will reduce America’s greenhouse gas footprint by only half of the original target, according to a report last September by the Germany-based NewClimate Institute.


A more precise figure is set to be published by America’s Pledge in September during a global summit on climate change in San Francisco.


For now, warned Michelle Manion, the lead senior economist at the World Resources Institute leading analysis for this report: “If you just do a straight line from the states and cities that have committed to it, it doesn’t look like we’ll meet those numbers.”


“It’s heading in the right direction, I can’t tell you what the number is going to be in 2025, nor can anybody else,” she continued, adding that future technological innovations could prove to be game changers.


Ten years ago, no one foresaw the dramatic decline in natural gas prices, she recalled. Or predicted that the cost of solar panels would fall by 70 per cent over the course of seven years.


It remains imperative, she argued, for states to continue to work towards a low-carbon economy.


Vehicle emissions standards, which Trump is seeking to change, are a good example, she said. — AFP


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