President #Obama has ratified the Paris Climate Agreement despite vows from the senate to block the agreement via the power of the purse. Obama ratified the agreement on Saturday with Chinese President Xi Jinping after landing in Hangzhou, China. A White House spokesperson said the international agreement is not a treaty, but rather an executive decision, of which Obama has signed many since taking office. China, which also signed the agreement today, gets a free pass because, as the largest carbon dioxide emitter, it won’t be required to make any cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions for another 15 years.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will be required to “cut its emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by the year 2025, with a goal of 28 percent,” severely limiting its manufacturing prowess and raising prices on anything that is powered by fossil fuels. China, however, won’t have to start making any cuts until 2030, long after Obama has left office. China can also withdraw from the accord at any time.
Trump was right
Remember when #Donald Trump tweeted:
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
Seems that Trump was eerily prescient. Obama ratified the Paris Climate Agreement with a country that does not have to lower its greenhouse gases until 2030, giving it a huge advantage over the United States and manufacturing. Meanwhile, China continues to open a new coal plant every week and is building new factories to meet the growing demand for cheap, foreign-made goods and steel.
Will it work?
Whether other countries sign the accord remains to be seen, but as we noted previously, averting warming by 1.5 degrees won’t occur without a complete power shutdown of all greenhouse-emitting sources, which would send the world into a new stone age. Currently, China, the United States, the EU, and India are the top greenhouse gas emitters. The climate accord can only move forward if 55 nations representing at least 55 percent of global emissions ratify the agreement. Signing the accord is the first stage before ratification.
