Last year the United States took a beating when Pres. Donald Trump pulled us out of the Paris climate accord. The Paris agreement involved virtually every country on earth signing up to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions. That was all in an effort to keep global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.
When announcing the decision, which was hardly a surprise based on his past statements, Pres. Trump said “Compliance with the terms of the Paris Accord and the onerous energy restrictions it has placed on the United States could cost America as much as 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025…”
Other leaders were unimpressed. The European Union’s commissioner for climate, for example, said “Today is a sad day for the global community, as a key partner turns its back on the fight against climate change…. this vacuum will be filled by new broad committed leadership. Europe and its strong partners all around the world are ready to lead the way.”
Now that some time has passed since the decision, we can begin to evaluate who is truly leading the way. The American Enterprise Institute, drawing on data from BP, says that America is leading the way without even being a part of Paris. In 2017, America reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 42 million tons, or .5%. That was the largest decline in emissions in the world, and the third consecutive year that emissions declined in the U.S. That is rather remarkable given the economy was growing rapidly in those three years. The European Union, despite grousing about their leadership, actually increased their emissions by 1.5%. China’s emissions grew by 1.6%, and they had the largest increase in emissions of any country in the world.
The boom in American shale gas production has allowed us to replace coal with cleaner-burning natural gas and drastically reduce our carbon footprint without having to suffer any economic consequences. Much of that gas is coming from the Marcellus region, and if you want to get involved with producing it you can call the Pennsylvania-based land experts at Cimmaron Land at 412-212-7517.