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In this archival photo of June 3, 2017, the Scherer Coal Plant stands out in the distance in Juliette, Georgia.
Branden Camp / AP
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Branden Camp / AP
In this archival photo of June 3, 2017, the Scherer Coal Plant stands out in the distance in Juliette, Georgia.
Branden Camp / AP
The Trump administration is celebrating a reduction in the country's greenhouse gas emissions last year, even as the president himself continues to challenge the scientific understanding of climate change.
The Environmental Protection Agency said that US production of heat-trapping gas was 2.7% lower in 2017 than in the previous year. Despite this improvement, independent analysts believe that the country will probably be far from the pollution control measures needed to curb global warming.
"The trends leading to the emission reductions observed in 2017 have been cooked several years ago," said Kate Larsen, who monitors greenhouse gas emissions from the Rhodium Group, an independent research company. "We can not rely on these trends forever."
Much of the reduction in 2017 came from power plants – traditionally a major source of carbon pollution. Emissions from the electricity sector decreased by 4.5% as utilities switched to low-cost natural gas and increasingly competitive renewable energy sources. The share of coal in the production of electricity has fallen to 30%.
"These achievements stem largely from technological breakthroughs in the private sector, and not from the government's heavy hand," said Andrew Wheeler, EPA Administrator, in a statement. Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist and, like President Trump, a skeptic of climatology.
In an interview with 60 minutes released this week, Trump challenged the huge scientific consensus that human-caused carbon pollution was responsible for global warming.
"You will have to show me scientists because they have a very big political agenda," said the president.
Trump is given as a priority to roll back the Obama era's climate policies, including measures to reduce pollution from power plants and motor vehicle exhaust pipes.
The electricity sector continued to make progress in reducing emissions despite the federal government's reversal. The abundance of inexpensive natural gas and falling prices for renewable energy have prompted the move to more dirty coal plants. Some States have also called on utilities to rely more on greener energy sources.
Trends are less positive in the transport sector, which has now overshadowed electricity as the largest producer of greenhouse gases.
"People are driving more and, because of low fuel prices in recent years, consumers are choosing bigger and heavier vehicles," Larsen said. The Trump administration has also put a damper on the Obama era's efforts to boost fuel economy, although states like California have threatened to impose their own standards.
According to Mr. Larsen, at the current rate, US greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 will be about 15% below their 2005 levels. It's far from the reduction of 26 to 28% promised in the Paris climate agreement.
Trump has announced its intention to withdraw from this agreement last year.
If cheap natural gas continues to capture a share of the market, greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector could begin to rise again after 2025. At this point, gas may not be available. replace carbon-intensive coal, but rather carbon-free nuclear energy.
"It's the risk of taking credit for these market trends," said Larsen. "When these trends go in a direction that is not helpful, no one takes responsibility for that."
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Trump said the government's efforts to better fight carbon pollution could put the US at a competitive disadvantage.
"What I'm not ready to do is sacrifice the economic well-being of our country for something that no one really knows," said Trump, repeating his false claim that the climate makes the world's worst. # 39; object of a wide debate. "I have a natural instinct for science," he said.
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