If Congress doesn’t act quickly to pass climate legislation, the U.S. will likely only meet a fraction of the goal of reducing emissions by 50 percent below 2005 levels by the end of the decade, a new report warns.
The Rhodium Group foundWithout further action by Congress or state legislators the U.S. will only be able to reduce emissions by 24-35 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. While this is marginally better than the reductions of merely 17 to 30 percent that the group found the country was on track for last year, it still falls “significantly short” of the U.S.’s Paris Agreement pledge and President Joe Biden’s goals, the report says.
The emission goal won’t even be met by 2035, the researchers found. The level of emissions reductions by 2035 under current legislation would still only be about 26 to 41 percent below 2005 levels, with greenhouse gas emissions “remain[ing] stubbornly high,” the group wrote.
As it stands, with only policies like last year’s bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Vehicle emission standards will be reduced mainly by the power sector, the growth of electric cars and fuel efficiency developments. According to the report, industry will be the largest contributor to emissions.
“[N]ow, more than ever, it’s important for policymakers to focus on maximizing the impacts of policy: the clock is ticking on both achieving the U.S.’s 2030 climate goals and on reducing emissions to avert the worst impacts of climate change,” the report says.
On the heels of last year’s unceremonious death of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), which would haveThe United States has almost single-handedly brought its emissions in line to the Paris Agreement goals. Congress is currently working on a reconciliation bill that could. contain up to $350 billionIn funding climate and energy provisions.
The major roadblock for this funding is conservative Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), who was responsible for killing the BBBA and is a major player in this year’s negotiations.
The White House has already published a draft outline of the bill. is already considering breaking President Joe Biden’s pledges to stop all new drilling on public lands by approving new fossil fuel projects in order to appease Manchin, who has spent his entire political careerHis bank account will be enriched by his partnership with the coal sector.
According to the researchers, the reason the range of expected emissions reductions is so large is that there is uncertainty about whether legislators will act to stop the climate crisis getting worse. The only certain conclusion that they draw, therefore, is that legislators have a mandate to act — quickly.
“The clock is ticking on Congress’s and the Biden administration’s efforts to enact meaningful policy changes to bend the emissions curve down further. States and the private sector may be able to make up some of the difference but, as yet, have not taken substantive steps to do so,” the report says.
“New elections on the horizon and increased judicial scrutiny similar to the Supreme Court’s recent West Virginia v. EPA decision underscore the need to act fast and responsibly if the US has any chance of meeting its 2030 climate target and helping to avert the worst effects of global climate change,” the group concludes.
While Democrats are trying hard to find consensus within the party about climate legislation, the right remains united in their goal of ensuring the dominance of the fossil fuel sector over the country and perpetuating climate crisis. Far right extremists on the Supreme Court ruled last month that the EPA doesn’t have broad jurisdiction over regulating fossil fuels, which deals a major setback to climate advocates and, indeed, the whole world.
