US On Track To Miss Obama-Era Emissions Targets By As Much As Half, Because Of Course We Will

[hatrack]

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Emissions blamed for global warming are on track to fall between 12 and 20 percent by 2025 from 2005 levels, according to the report released Thursday by research firm Rhodium Group LLC. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. pledged a 26 percent to 28 percent cut as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the impacts of climate change.

President Donald Trump has moved to withdraw from the international agreement and to dismantle domestic energy policies aimed at cutting pollution from power plants and vehicles. The wide range of possible outcomes reflects uncertainty over policy changes as well as economic, technical and market forces that determine emissions trends.

“From regulatory and legal hurdles to pushback by the regulated industries themselves, many of the Trump administration’s rollback attempts remain stymied,” according to the report. “Where the administration has been extremely successful, however, is in sowing confusion among a wide array of stakeholders and significantly increasing regulatory uncertainty for American businesses.”

The U.S. wasn't on track to reach the Paris targets before Trump took aim at Obama-era policies, according to John Larsen, a director at Rhodium Group and co-author of the report. If climate policies were left untouched, emissions cuts would still fall about 20 percent short.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-28/america-s-about-to-miss-a-big-obama-era-climate-goal-as-trump-dismantles-policies

[VMA131Marine]

1. There is some cause for optimism however.

The cost of grid scale solar is now we'll under $1/Watt and solar power is now cheaper per MWh than any fossil fuel based source. We may be nearing the limit of how low it can go, but as long as it remains as cheap as it is, Solar will replace a lot of fossil fuel fired generation and there are reasons to think it will happen a lot faster than anticipated currently.