President Obama said Friday that the Paris Agreement will increase private-sector investment in renewable energy, which will make approval from Congress irrelevant in the long run.
In his year-end press conference, Obama said the climate-change deal sends a strong message to businesses that the world is ready and willing to move toward a low-carbon future. That will create a different business dynamic, moving investment toward clean energy regardless of what Congress thinks of the deal, which was crafted to avoid certain rejection by the Senate.
“There’s a big monetary incentive to get this right and that’s been the history of environmental progress in this country and now we’ve exported it around the world,” Obama said. “Every time we’ve made a decision, like we’re going to have clean air, the predictions were everything would fall apart.
“Lo and behold, it turns out American innovation makes getting clean air a lot less expensive than people expected and it’s a lot cheaper than people expected.”
The Paris Agreement was the first time 196 countries from around the world came together to fight climate change. U.S. negotiators crafted the deal to make the most important portions, limits on greenhouse gas emissions and financial commitments from rich countries to poor ones, completely voluntary with no punishment mechanism if countries don’t meet their commitments.
Obama said the fact that the deal is not legally binding under international law isn’t as important as its symbolism.
Diplomats in Paris hoped the agreement would show the private sector that the world is serious about switching to clean energy from fossil fuels. With significant increases in research and development aimed at bringing clean energy technology to the market, the deal is a symbolic change in the global energy marketplace, Obama said.
“That combination of market signals means the private sector is going to start investing much more heavily and it’s not just coming here, it’s coming around the world,” he said. “You now have a global marketplace that is stable and accelerating over the course of the next decade.”
Part of the significant U.S. contribution to that marketplace is the extension of solar and wind tax credits struck in a deal in Congress as a part of the negotiations to pass the $1.1 trillion spending bill Friday.
The tax credit extensions will last for five years. During Obama’s tenure, solar power has increased twentyfold and the amount of wind power has tripled. By the time the tax credits expire, Obama hopes the country will be well on its way to a clean energy future.
“At each juncture, what we’ve said is American strength and American exceptionalism is not just a matter of us bombing somebody,” Obama said. “More often, it’s a matter of us convening, setting the agenda, pointing other nations in a direction that’s good for everybody and American interests.
“Sometimes the results don’t come overnight, they don’t come the following day, but they come.”
