Mandatory U.S. Regulations Paramount to Voluntary Paris

June 7th, 2017 ProActivity News

On June 1, 2017, President Trump announced plans for the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. What does this mean, aside from witty Casablanca misquotes, (e.g., We no longer have Paris), for American industry?

In recent years greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuel has seemingly become the unattractive cousin of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and geothermal. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2015 statistics, the share of fossil fuel consumption (petroleum, natural gas, and coal) was the lowest in the past century (81.5% of total U.S. energy consumption) and the share of renewable energy was the highest since 1930 (10% of total U.S. energy consumption). Will the withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement buke this trend?

The Paris Agreement, adopted by consensus on December 12, 2015, is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in which each country determines its own voluntary target in greenhouse gases (GHGs) to mitigate global warming. No mechanism exists to force target setting or compliance dates. Therefore, while the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement may be viewed by some as insular, it does not directly translate into increased greenhouse gas emissions.

What would have a more significant impact on American industry, and greenhouse gas emissions, is a repeal of the Clean Power Plan. This plan (published as a final rule on October 23, 2015) establishes emission guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating unit. On April 4, 2017, EPA announced that it “is reviewing and, if appropriate will initiate proceedings to suspend, revise or rescind the Clean Power Plan.”

The future of greenhouse gas regulations may be anyone’s guess as things continue to evolve in the regulatory world. But luckily Dakota clients dealing with these regulatory changes can say with certainty “We’ll always have Dakota.”