How the Next Administration Can Influence Climate Change

Post date: Dec 28, 2016 3:01:52 PM

By JASMINE C. LEE and ADAM PEARCE DEC. 8, 2016

This summer, California strengthened policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Nine northeastern states, including Massachusetts, began working together in 2009 under a cap-and-trade program.

In a show of defiance, Gov. Jerry Brown , a Democrat, and legislative leaders said they would work directly with other nations and states to defend and strengthen what were already far and away the most aggressive policies to fight climate change in the nation. That includes a legislatively mandated target of reducing carbon emissions in California to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

How Trump Can Influence Climate Change

During the presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump said he would take the United States out of the Paris agreement and get rid of the Clean Power Plan, which the Supreme Court suspended earlier this year.

A Trump administration may decide to move against efforts undertaken by the Obama administration — by limiting the budget of the E.P.A. or slowing progress on federal actions, for example.

In choosing Scott Pruitt, a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Trump has signaled a desire to dismantle President Obama’s actions to counter climate change, despite discussing the issue with Al Gore earlier this week at Trump Tower.

Mr. Trump’s decisions will be important but not the sole factor in how close the United States gets to reaching the emissions goal.

Energy markets are shifting; coal power has been declining while wind and solar power use have made gains recently.

This summer, California strengthened policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Nine northeastern states began working together in 2009 under a cap-and-trade program.

Last month, more than 300 companies called for the United States to continue with its emission reduction plans.

Andrew Jones, co-director and co-founder of Climate Interactive, says that reducing emissions requires a number of strategies. “The contributors to global warming are diverse,” Mr. Jones said. “Therefore the response to it by the United States is going to be diverse as well.”

The United States is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China. If America does not fulfill its pledge, the world may not be able to slow the increase in global temperatures.

Other nations are not expected to back out of their pledges if the United States does not participate, but there is concern over how much developing countries will be able to do.

Part of the global climate conversation is focused on financial assistance to poorer countries. Developed nations agreed to give $100 billion a year by 2020, which will require coordination and planning on a large scale, and the United States may have a critical role in that planning.

There may also be concern over how aggressively other countries will target emissions. “The challenge,” Mr. Jones said, “is the potential lack of bold leadership globally at a time when the world needs increased ambition to reduce emissions and stay within the Paris limits.”

Pipeline: 2016-12-02-climate-change | December 8, 2016, 04:03PM | edf754f06c58c1b98eafa54dad9ddea2dd85cac3

Sources: The data and assumptions are from analysis by Climate Interactive. Technical documentation is available at climateinteractive.org.