3. It Would Have Had No Impact. Obama himself says, “The private sector already chose a low-carbon future.” So if that was true, what’s the need for governmental cram-downs, exactly? Beyond that, Trump is correct that MIT has estimated that even if the Paris Accord were implemented with current commitments by the various countries, the global climate would be lowered by a grand total of 0.2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. Meanwhile, we’d put crippling regulations on our economy. MIT and the Left insist that other steps would follow the Paris Accord — but there’s no evidence of that.
4. It Let Other Countries Free-Ride. Obama said in his petulant statement, “It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well.” This is absolute nonsense. One of the reasons to be skeptical of the Paris Accord is that it asked nations for non-binding commitments on climate change. Non-binding. As Oren Cass pointed out at Commentary:
EXCELLENT TRUMP: 5 Reasons Trump Is Right To Pull Out Of The Paris Accord
.........................................................
7 Things You Need To Know About The Paris Accord
4. The accord doesn't hold China and India to a high standard. Via the Journal's editorial:
China and India offered benchmarks pegged to GDP growth, which means they can continue their current energy plans. China won’t even begin reducing emissions until 2030 and in the next five years it will use more coal.
China also can't be trusted to reduce their carbon emissions since they have a history of misrepresenting their total emission levels.
5. The U.S. had pledged $3 billion a year to the United Nations' Green Climate Fund. Under the accord, participants would provide $100 billion to organizations like the Green Climate Fund to provide money to poorer countries to neutralize the costs of curtailing carbon emissions. The Obama administration has already funneled $1 billion to the organization without congressional approval as part of a $3 billion pledge.
But such funding would hardly help impoverished nations, as South African activist Leon Louw, who works for an influential free-market think-tank in Africa, told Climate Depot in 2011:
6. The accord's impact on the climate would have been minimal. Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, estimates that if all the promised cuts under the accord were implemented, temperature would decline by only 0.17°C in 2100. The U.S. cuts under the accord would be responsible for reducing temperatures by 0.031°C in that same time-frame.
Dr. Roy Spencer, a climate scientist, noted in a column that reduction in temperature under the accord "is unmeasurable by current global temperature monitoring networks."
4. It Let Other Countries Free-Ride. Obama said in his petulant statement, “It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well.” This is absolute nonsense. One of the reasons to be skeptical of the Paris Accord is that it asked nations for non-binding commitments on climate change. Non-binding. As Oren Cass pointed out at Commentary:
China committed to begin reducing emissions by 2030, roughly when its economic development would have caused this to happen regardless. India made no emissions commitment, pledging only to make progress on efficiency—at half the rate it had progressed in recent years. Pakistan outdid the rest, submitting a single page that offered to “reduce its emissions after reaching peak levels to the extent possible.” This is a definition of the word “peak,” not a commitment. ... An April report by Transport Environment found only three European countries pursuing policies in line with their Paris commitments and one of those, Germany, has now seen two straight years of emissions increases. The Philippines has outright renounced its commitment. A study published by the American Geophysical Union warns that India’s planned coal-plant construction is incompatible with its own targets. All this behavior is socially acceptable amongst the climate crowd. Only Trump’s presumption that the agreement means something, and that countries should be forthright about their commitments, is beyond the pale.
EXCELLENT TRUMP: 5 Reasons Trump Is Right To Pull Out Of The Paris Accord
.........................................................
7 Things You Need To Know About The Paris Accord
4. The accord doesn't hold China and India to a high standard. Via the Journal's editorial:
China and India offered benchmarks pegged to GDP growth, which means they can continue their current energy plans. China won’t even begin reducing emissions until 2030 and in the next five years it will use more coal.
China also can't be trusted to reduce their carbon emissions since they have a history of misrepresenting their total emission levels.
5. The U.S. had pledged $3 billion a year to the United Nations' Green Climate Fund. Under the accord, participants would provide $100 billion to organizations like the Green Climate Fund to provide money to poorer countries to neutralize the costs of curtailing carbon emissions. The Obama administration has already funneled $1 billion to the organization without congressional approval as part of a $3 billion pledge.
But such funding would hardly help impoverished nations, as South African activist Leon Louw, who works for an influential free-market think-tank in Africa, told Climate Depot in 2011:
“What the government of rich countries are saying to poor countries is: ‘Those of you who are best at causing poverty, we will enrich you, we will give you money,’” Louw told Climate Depot while attending the UN climate summit.
“Government to government aid is a reward for being better than anyone else at causing poverty. Countries that get more government to government aide have lower economic growth rates. Countries with less aid, have higher growth rates. If you subsidize failure you get failure and foreign aid does exactly that. It rewards people for being unsuccessful,” Louw stated.
“Government to government aid is a reward for being better than anyone else at causing poverty. Countries that get more government to government aide have lower economic growth rates. Countries with less aid, have higher growth rates. If you subsidize failure you get failure and foreign aid does exactly that. It rewards people for being unsuccessful,” Louw stated.
6. The accord's impact on the climate would have been minimal. Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, estimates that if all the promised cuts under the accord were implemented, temperature would decline by only 0.17°C in 2100. The U.S. cuts under the accord would be responsible for reducing temperatures by 0.031°C in that same time-frame.
Dr. Roy Spencer, a climate scientist, noted in a column that reduction in temperature under the accord "is unmeasurable by current global temperature monitoring networks."
