A tragedy with a happy ending? The United States before the Paris Climate Summit

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4 NOVEMBER 2015

CAMPUS REPSOL, MADRID

A tragedy with a happy ending? The United States before the

Paris Climate Summit

Alexander Ochs Director of Climate and Energy

Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.

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Overview

• US emission trends • US climate policy

• Historical milestones (Tragedy, Acts 1-3) • The United States today (Showdown, Act4) • Explanations

• What can be expected from the United States in Paris? (Act 5- Happy end?)

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Overview


• Historical milestones (Tragedy, Acts 1-3) • The United States today (Showdown - Act4) • Explanations


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0.00

10,000,000.00

20,000,000.00

30,000,000.00

40,000,000.00

50,000,000.00

60,000,000.00

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012

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Year

Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1990 - 2012 Global U.S. EU China Spain Germany

Source: PBL 2014

5

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4000000

6000000

8000000

10000000

12000000

14000000

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012

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Year

Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 1990 - 2012 U.S. EU China Spain Germany

Source: PBL 2014

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5

10

15

20

25

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012

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NS

CO

2/C

AP

China U.S. EU Spain Germany

CO2 per capita

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0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012

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$

CO2 emissions per $1000 GDP

China U.S. EU Spain Germany

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Source: EIA 2015

U.S. primary energy consumption by source

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Source: EIA 2015

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Source: EIA 2015

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Overview




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US CLIMATE POLICY MILESTONES 1992 President Bush signs UNFCCC

1997 Clinton signs Kyoto Protocol; never ratified by Congress

2001 Bush withdraws from KP, “economic harm”

2009 Obama announces domestic emissions reduction targets: - 17% in 2020, -30% in 2025, -42% in 2030, approx. - 83% by 2050 (all compared to 2005)

2013 Obama outlines Climate Action Plan

2014-15 Domestic and international climate efforts stepped up

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“We consider it vital that the community of nations be drawn together in an orderly, disciplined, rational way to review the history of our global environment, to assess the potential for future climate change, and to develop effective programs.” President George H.W. Bush, 1990

Tragedy, Act 1 - The reluctant “environmental president”

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“We will mine more, drill more, cut more timber.” "I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns..." James Watt, Secretary of Interior

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“If we do it right, protecting the climate will yield not costs, but profits; not burdens, but benefits; not sacrifice, but a higher standard of living.” President Bill Clinton, signing of the Kyoto Protocol (1997)

Tragedy, Act 2 - The “environmental president” and the reluctant Congress

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“The United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in December 1997, or thereafter…”

(Byrd-Hagel Resolution, 1990)

Robert Byrd, Senator (D-WV)

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“I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, from compliance, and would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy.”

“Some of the scientists, I believe, haven’t they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming? There’s a lot of differing opinions and before we react I think it’s best to have the full accounting, full understanding of what’s taking place.” (2001)

President G. W. Bush Tragedy, Act 3 - The reluctant president – and the reluctant Congress

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“As record floods alternate with record ice-storms, as record-breaking hot months are followed by even hotter months a year later, who can afford to wait?”

Al Gore, Vice – President 1992-2000

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“With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? “ Sen James Inhofe, (R-OK)

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Overview




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“We’re showing that there’s no excuse for other nations to come together, both developed and developing, to achieve a strong global climate agreement next year.” – President Barack Obama (2)

“The choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy — it’s a choice between prosperity and decline. The nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy.”

Act 4: Showdown

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“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it.”

Marco Rubio, Senator (R-FL)

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Referring to climate change, “I think it’s very low on the list. So I am not a believer, and I will, unless somebody can prove something to me, I believe there’s weather. I believe there’s change, and I believe it goes up and it goes down, and it goes up again. And it changes depending on years and centuries, but I am not a believer, and we have much bigger problems.”

Donald Trump, U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate

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Overview




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Explanations: A highly partisan issue – Governmental gridlock The Role of America, Us Against Them, the American Dream, God, Fordism, Technology Will Save Us, Disbelief in Science/Academics/Elites

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Overview




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OBAMA’S LEADERSHIP Using Clean Air Act, the Clean Power Plan regulates

carbon pollution from existing power plants

Goal: Lower carbon pollution from power plants 32% below 2005 levels by 2030

Sets reduction goals per state; state develops implementation plan to implement by 2030

Many lawsuits have been filed

EPA formalized carbon standards for new, modified, and reconstructed power plants

Allowable emissions of carbon pollution based on best available technology

New or modified coal plants can meet standards with CCS

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SUBNATIONAL & CORPORATIONS PUSH

States

California: - 40% below 1990 GHG levels by 2030,- 80% by 2050

Connecticut: 75-85% emissions reductions below 2001 levels;

Massachusetts: 75-85% below 1990 levels

Florida: 80%

Illinois: 60% below 1990 levels by 2050.

Municipalities

NYC: 80% below 2005 levels by 2050.

Seattle: Carbon neutral by 2050.

1,060 U.S. mayors have supported Kyoto goals

Corporations

Dozens of US-based multinational businesses have called to price global carbon, agree to a climate deal, set own decarbonization targets

Silicon valley pushes the energy revolution

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12.18

6.42

4.55 4.33 4.22 4.18

2.93

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Texas California Pennsylvania Ohio Florida Illinois New York

% O

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O2

Top U.S. Emitters, 2011

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US SUBMISSIONS FOR PARIS

U.S. INDC: 17% GHG below 2005 levels by 2020 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025

Sector Commitments Oil and Gas Sector: Curb methane

emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025.

Adaptation Pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate

Fund

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INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS

U.S. – China

U.S. – India

U.S. – EU

G-20

Clean Energy Ministerial

Global Methane Initiative

Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas

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ALEXANDER OCHS, DIRECTOR OF CLIMATE AND ENERGY

WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE, WASHINGTON, D.C.

[email protected]

Thank You.

A tragedy with a happy ending? The United States before the Paris Climate Summit

Environment

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