Private industry will ultimately determine whether the U.S. meets the Paris agreement, despite what the Trump administration plans, the United Nations’ Environment Programme (UNEP) director predicted Tuesday.
“All the big American companies are dedicated to going in the green direction,” UNEP executive director Erik Solheim said Tuesday about the march toward adopting the measures laid out in the Paris deal.
He was referring to what he believes will be the private sector’s willingness to circumvent President Donald Trump’s move to separate the U.S. from the agreement.
“At the end of the day … the private sector and business are now driving the agenda,” Solheim said in a video conference in Geneva that discusses how countries are addressing greenhouse gas emissions. Corporate America will solve the problem, Solheim added.
The non-binding Paris agreement, which former President Barack Obama signed in 2015, commits each country in the deal to lower greenhouse gas emissions that scientists believe are causing man-made global warming. Nicaragua and the U.S. are the only two countries that have chosen to opt out of the agreement.
Analysts believe Obama’s target of 26 to 28 percent greenhouse gas level reductions by 2025 based on 2005 emissions levels mostly missed the mark. The Rhodium Group, for instance, found earlier this year that the U.S. would not be able to hit the mark under Obama’s climate regulations, which were substantial at the time of Rhodium’s report.
Solheim’s optimism is based on a mostly state-oriented campaign to adopt some of the policies in the deal. But the so-called “We Are Still In” campaign will fall flat unless it manages to convince nearly every fossil fuel burning state in the country to back the Paris deal.
So far only the greenest states with the most to gain politically from opposing President Donald Trump have joined the pact. Major energy-producing states such as Texas, Pennsylvania, and the Dakotas have not signed onto the coalition’s non-binding pact, which could greatly hamper the We Are Still In campaign. Most of the states in the campaign reside on the coasts.
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Here is just another reason to boot the Useless Nations out lets turn the place into a homeless shelter and evict these unwanted pest(Guests)from america and especialy that Enviromental screwball
I can remember when activists turned against the New World for being “smug” about reducing pollution. “You’re rich, you can afford the technology necessary to clean up your yard . Pay for the Third World as well!!”
So China is accumulating money faster than any country in the UN ,no longer “3rd World” , stinking up the planet in the process. Buying coal and crude from the four corners of the world. Oh, but they signed the Paris deal!
Free pass.
From the article, ““All the big American companies are dedicated to going in the green direction,” UNEP executive director Erik Solheim said Tuesday about the march toward adopting the measures laid out in the Paris deal.”
Was this guy born yesterday! The main thing big companies do is put on a public relations campaign to make themselves look green. To do this they do some environmental projects, but nothing approaching the cost of implementing the Paris Treaty.
From the article, “Solheim’s optimism is based on a mostly state-oriented campaign to adopt some of the policies in the deal.”
This guy is a real idiot. There were 26 states that sued to stop Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Does he really think that they are going to join the “We Are Still In” campaign?
The U.S. was already leading the world in emissions reduction and would likely have met the UN targets regardless of the Paris climate accord. The only difference is that now the tax payers won’t have to watch their money thrown away to support other countries that have not intention of meeting the target reduction levels. The Paris Climate Accord was a wealth re-distribution scam on a global level, plain and simple.
These Eco-Freaks would very much like to see all of Civilization collapes and return to a primative was of living their so convinced after watching crap like Avatar or reading some lie filled liberal newspaper or newsletter from Greenpeace or NRDC<EDF,Friends of the Earth,Sierra Club or one of thes e eco-wacko groups that modern man is distroying the planet while the primative saved it i would like to load them all onto a Time Machine maybe Mr Peabody can shove rhem all into the Waybac Machine Sherman sets it for 1491 and leave them there for a month or more