President Obama’s commitments under the Paris climate agreement will harm the United States for very little positive gain in the fight against climate change, a top House Republican charged Tuesday.
House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, also called Obama’s Clean Power Plan a “power grab” at a hearing his committee hosted called, “Paris Climate Promise: A Bad Deal for America” Tuesday. The Clean Power Plan is a series of regulations limiting carbon emissions from new and existing coal power plants.
“The president’s U.N. climate pledge is a bad deal for the American economy, the American people and would produce no substantive environmental benefits,” Smith said.
The Paris Agreement was completed in December and saw 196 countries from around the world come together to try to limit global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius. Many scientists believe mankind is causing climate change through the burning of fossil fuels, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and subsequently causing the globe to warm.
Each country came up with their own plan to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. But the commitments are not legally binding and critics say the deal lacks teeth.
The Paris Agreement also contains commitments from rich countries to send money to poorer countries in order for them to develop more clean energy sources. Those financial commitments are also not legally binding.
The countries agree to meet every five years to reassess their greenhouse gas reduction commitments with an eye toward ramping up the reductions, if possible. But Smith said this is a mistake, since at best the deal will have a minimal impact.
“Even if all 196 countries continue their promised reductions for each year after 2031, it will only reduce temperatures by one-sixth of a degree Celsius,” he said.
The Clean Power Plan is being challenged by more than half of the states and many interest groups in court.
The leading Democrat on the committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, said it’s foolish for Republicans in Congress to continue to assail the Clean Power Plan and the Paris Agreement.
Johnson said the private sector is acting on climate change and Congress needs to follow suit.
“The Paris Agreement requires all governments to be consistent with their commitments send a signal to the private sector that a stable framework for action will be put in place,” she said, “enabling private actors to invest, innovate and inspire further action.”
