Activists on Monday interrupted a Trump administration-led discussion about “clean” coal and nuclear power by chanting “keep it in the ground” and “shame on you” at a United Nations climate change conference in Poland.
Wells Griffith, President Trump’s international energy and climate adviser leading the event, smiled at the protesters and said it was an example of “how we can’t have an open and honest discussion about the realities” of fighting climate change.
“All energy sources are important and will be utilized unapologetically,” Griffith said. “The important piece is to utilize them in the most clean and efficient way.”
It’s the second straight year the Trump administration has held a side event promoting the cleaner and more efficient use of fossil fuels during a international climate change conference intended to ensure the implementation of the Paris climate agreement.
Trump has said he will leave the Paris Agreement in 2020, making the U.S. the only country in the world to not commit to the deal. But the U.S. still sends a delegation to international climate change events to keep a seat at the table.
Last November, protesters interrupted a similar Trump administration-led discussion in Bonn, Germany, by singing a “God Bless the USA” parody.
The panelists at Monday’s Trump administration event argued that investing in “clean coal” initiatives, such as technology that captures and stores carbon emissions from coal plants, is an important component to cutting emissions to levels needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. They also touted U.S. work to develop small nuclear reactors, a far-off technology that supporters say is more viable because it’s smaller, containing less fuel and energy, and would operate with less risk of accidents.
The U.S. depends on nuclear power for 60 percent of its carbon-free electricity.
“The U.S. will continue to pursue a balanced and rational approach that supports innovation and entrepreneurship and does force countries to choose between economic prosperity and environmental protection,” Griffith said. “By harnessing innovation, not mandates, we will continue to unleash cleaner and efficient ways to promote fossil fuels, emission-free nuclear, as well as renewables.”
The administration wants the U.N. to recognize that coal and other fossil fuels will remain in high demand across much of the developing world, and even in some developed countries throughout the next century, and that a rapid transition to 100 percent renewables isn’t yet feasible.
“We are here today to share our balanced approach [to energy],” Griffith said. “Alarmism should not silence realism.”
While nuclear power and carbon capture are indeed key tools to combating global warming, critics say Trump’s more wholesale rejection of climate science harms the United States’ credibility over the issue and lessens the impact of a message like this.
