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Trump moves to roll back Obama climate measures
By Andrew BEATTY
Washington (AFP) March 29, 2017


Trump moves on climate, no word yet on Paris accord
Washington (AFP) March 29, 2017 - President Donald Trump took action Tuesday to curb rules that underpin American emissions targets, making it clear climate change was not a priority, but said nothing about the 2015 Paris accord.

The White House has said discussions on the deal, which has been signed by more than 190 countries including the United States, are still under way.

Here are excerpts from an interview with Todd Stern, who led US climate negotiators from 2009-2016.

Q. What do you think the impact would be of the United States pulling out of the Paris accord?

A. It would absolutely tarnish America's image. I think this would be a damaging thing that would be viewed very negatively all over the world.

There would be collateral damage beyond climate change. We saw a dry run of this kind of thing back in 2001 when President (George W.) Bush walked away from Kyoto.

Kyoto was in fact a good effort but a very flawed agreement.

But even so when president Bush, soon after he took office, said the US is not going to participate in the Kyoto process, I think it hurt the US a lot diplomatically.

Even if the Trump administration wants to pretend for the time being that climate change is not a big deal, people all over the world think it is a really big deal.

Q. Given the talk coming from the US administration, does it make sense for the United States to back out?

A. There is a debate internally between people who say let's be faithful to what Donald Trump said during the campaign and walk away and those who, like (Secretary of State Rex) Tillerson, say let's keep a seat at the table.

Other than to just make an ideological point, I don't see any reason to do that.

There is not much percentage in walking away and not keeping a seat at the table.

I hope they are reaching out to the business community because if they are, they are going to hear business leaders saying you should stay in the agreement.

Most business leaders know that we will have to be back in at some point because climate change is real and if you are a fact based person who lives in a fact based world, you know climate change is real.

Q. If the United States drops its greenhouse gas emissions targets, would it make sense to remain in the accord?

A. I have a very negative view of the executive order signed today, I could not disagree more with it but I don't agree with the idea that, then, we might as well pull out of the Paris agreement.

I think it still matters for the US to be a part of the Paris agreement.

It's not as if everything grinds to a halt. What will change is certain important incentives being provided by the federal government, and those matter, but it's not going to stop everything in its track.

There are a bunch of States that are quite aggressive in what they are doing and there a lot cities as well and there are a lot of things going on in the real economy so to speak that is driving the development and dissemination of clean energy faster and further than anybody would have imagined.

President Donald Trump declared the end of a "war on coal" Tuesday, as he moved to curb rules that underpin American emissions targets and a major global climate accord.

Following through on an election promise, Trump signed an order to review some of his predecessor Barack Obama's climate legacy, declaring an end to "job-killing regulations."

In a maiden trip to the Environmental Protection Agency, he ordered a review of emission limits for coal-fired power plants and eased up restrictions on federal leasing for coal production.

Trump said the measures herald "a new era in American energy and production and job creation."

Critics say that rolling back Obama's Clean Power Plan is unlikely to result in a boost to production or to create substantial numbers of jobs.

America's coal industry has long been in decline, with natural gas, cheap renewable energy, automation and tricky geology making the sooty fuel a less lucrative prospect.

In 2008 there were 88,000 coal miners in the United States, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Today, the number of coal miners has fallen around 25 percent. More people work in Whole Foods, an upscale supermarket chain.

But some experts and environmental groups warned Trump's order could be the opening salvo of an effort to undermine internationally agreed targets under the Paris Climate Accord.

Curbing emissions from coal-fired power plants was a pillar of America's commitment to cut carbon emissions by 26-28 percent by 2025.

"It will make it virtually impossible" for the US to meet its target said Bob Ward, a climate specialist at the London School of Economics.

The Trump administration has not said whether it will pull out of the Paris deal.

"Whether we stay in or not is still under discussion," a senior administration official told AFP.

Energy giant Exxon Mobil has asked the Trump administration not to scrap US participation in the pact.

And veterans of the Obama administration played down the impact of Trump's actions.

Obama's former chief environmental advisor described the executive order as "terrible" but said "it isn't the ball game."

He added that any damage can be mitigated in the courts and in states, which are tasked with coming up with emissions reduction plans.

And "even if the Trump administration wants to pretend for the time being that climate change is not a big deal, people all over the world think it is a really big deal," said Todd Stern, who led US climate negotiators from 2009-2016.

Already the states of California and New York -- two of the most populous states -- have said they will press ahead with climate mitigation plans.

- Politics at play -

During the 2016 election campaign Trump donned a hard hat and embraced miners from Kentucky to West Virginia, promising to return jobs to long-ravaged communities. He won both states by a landslide.

Miners were by his side again on Tuesday. "Our incredible coal miners, we love our coal miners, great people," he said.

Trump's words may have been less well received in the corridors of the EPA's imposing Washington headquarters.

His repeated questioning of humans' role in warming the planet had prompted environmentalist critics to charge the fox is guarding the hen house.

Trump has done little to assuage those fears, vowing to slash EPA funding by a third, appointing anti-climate litigator Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA and Exxon's CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

But Trump's climate skepticism has struck a chord with many Republican voters.

Some 68 percent of Americans believe climate change is caused by humans, but just 40 percent of Republicans say they worry about it, according to Gallup.

- 'War on coal' -

Some experts warn the economic payoff from abandoning Obama's Clean Power Plan will be limited.

"In my view, it will have virtually no impact," said professor James Van Nostrand of West Virginia University, who said the decline of coal had more to do with higher mining costs and cheaper natural gas and renewables.

"Defunding or dismantling the EPA and repealing its regulations is not going to bring the coal industry back."

"The constant narrative about the 'war on coal' and the alleged devastating impact of EPA's regulations on West Virginia's coal industry will now be exposed for its inherent speciousness," he predicted.

Referring to the plan, the senior administration official told AFP: "It's going to take some time."

The United States is the world's second largest polluter. Around 37 percent of domestic carbon dioxide emissions come from electricity generation.

CLIMATE SCIENCE
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Paris (ESA) Mar 29, 2017
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