US announces Clean Power Plan to help ease the road to Paris
Tue 04 August 2015
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New rules announced by the Obama Administration in the US are designed to cut emissions from power plants. The final rules propose a 32% cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from the initial proposal of 30%.
365 businesses and investors wrote to 29 state governors to strongly support Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which they said would benefit the economy and create jobs. Leading businesses including eBay, Nestlé, Unilever, L’Oréal, Levi Strauss, Staples and General Mills expressed support for rules, billed as the strongest action ever on climate change by a US president.
The US is the world’s second biggest carbon emitter after China.
The rules have been strengthened in terms of the long-term ambition as originally proposed by the President last year, but slightly weakened in the short-term in a concession to states reliant on generation from coal. They are expected to meet legal opposition from states and utilities who oppose the plans, which will significantly boost wind and solar power generation and force a switch away from coal.
The final rules propose a 32% cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from the initial proposal of 30%. However states will only have to comply by 2022 rather than 2020 as originally proposed, and will be able submit their plans on meeting the targets by 2018 instead of 2017.
CO2 emissions from power plants fell 15% between 2005 and 2013, meaning the country is halfway to the target.
The rules are announced in advance of the UK climate summit in Paris at the end of the year.
Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the Washington DC-based thinktank the World Resources Institute, said: “The clean power plan should reassure international partners that the US administration is determined to deliver the 26-28% emissions reductions promised for 2025.
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