Reply To: Climate Crisis: Our Last Chance

The previous post centred on urgency being required but will this happen?

The Trump administration’s replacement for the Obama-era plan to combat climate change would increase greenhouse gas emissions in much of the US more than doing nothing at all, according to new research by Harvard University.

Emissions would “rebound” under the Trump policy, researchers found, as it delays the retirement of coal-fired power plants. Carbon dioxide emissions would be 8.7% higher in 18 states and Washington DC by 2030, compared with having no policy at all.

The plan was halted due to legal action, with the Trump administration intending to replace it with a watered-down alternative called the affordable clean energy rule. The new rule sets no pollution limits for states and merely advises them to make power plants more efficient. Harvard researchers found such upgrades would probably enable coal-fired power plants to run for longer, boosting output of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

“This new plan essentially gives out a free pass for carbon pollution,” said Kathleen Lambert, an expert in climate change and public health at Harvard who coauthored the research. “It’s a recipe for increased carbon emissions. It will make it even harder for the US to meet its emissions targets under the Paris accord and sets us in exactly the opposite direction we need to go in.”

The EPA’s rollback “could make things even worse”, said Jonathan Buonocore, another coauthor of the Harvard report. “This will throw a wrench into the climate action plans for many states and cities.”

Carbon emissions at nearly a third of coal plants would escalate over the next decade compared with no policy at all, the research found, while 20 states would experience climbing levels of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides, which can form harmful smog. The EPA’s own analysis has shown the new Trump administration plan would raise carbon emissions by 3.5% compared with the clean power plan.

“Putting a coal lobbyist like Andrew Wheeler in charge of the EPA is like giving a bank robber the keys to the vault,” said Matthew Gravatt, the associate legislative director of the Sierra Club.  “Wheeler isn’t just friendly with corporate polluters, he’s been on their team for years.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/15/trump-replacement-obama-climate-plan

So we are all relying on a change of US policy that will take place when (if?) Trump loses the 2020 election and the new incoming Democrat president saves the world with immediate and instant action to catch up with lost time. Are we fucking mad to trust in this crazy gamble?