President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Treaty on June 1, 2017, and for good reason. The Environmental Protection Agency’s own models showed that it would only reduce global warming by two tenths of a degree Celsius by the year 2100, with a cost to the U.S. of $100 billion a year. Even James Hansen, the former NASA scientist dubbed the “father of climate change” realized it was a horrible deal, and told The Guardian nearly two years ago, “It’s a fraud really, a fake. It’s just bulls**t for them to say: ‘We’ll have a 2C warming target and then try to do a little better every five years.’ It’s just worthless words.”
But, regardless of reality, the reaction among liberals to the pullout was to play Chicken Little.
2017: when Paris Hilton has a better grasp of climate science and policy than the current administration https://t.co/XrhporfMyV
— Brian L Kahn (@blkahn) September 25, 2017
From the interests of the oil industry, a weaker Paris climate accord is a "great scenario" – @NaomiAKlein https://t.co/AzAIXWIdno
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) September 19, 2017
U.S. pulls out of Paris Climate Accord. Then hit by 4 Hurricanes in 6 weeks. Global Warming Karma? ?#imatexanrepublican #wakeup
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) September 19, 2017
"Game of Thrones" actor to Trump: Leaving Paris climate deal is a "grave mistake" https://t.co/QhrSyf037g pic.twitter.com/8zbpE1htCl
— The Hill (@thehill) September 17, 2017
White House: We still plan to exit Paris accord, ruin climate for everyone else. https://t.co/1nNTzC4nTI pic.twitter.com/Q54XqapVdg
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) September 17, 2017
And as you may have noticed, the sky hasn’t fallen since.
In fact, in absence of having signed onto the Paris Climate treaty, the nation that saw the largest decline on CO2 emissions that year was….. the United States. The largest increase in CO2 emissions was from China, who did sign the treaty.
Chart of the Day: Last year the United States had the largest decline in CO2 emissions *in the entire world* for the 9th time this century. @AEIdeas @Mark_J_Perry https://t.co/BCnKJTirfE pic.twitter.com/8wN5kZJBDK
— AEI (@AEI) July 14, 2018
According to the June 2018 BP Statistical Review of Global Energy (67th edition):
- Declines in CO2 emissions in 2017 were led by the U.S.. In fact, this is the ninth time in this century that the US has had the largest decline in emissions in the world. This also was the third consecutive year that emissions in the U.S. declined.
- Carbon emissions from energy use in the U.S. are the lowest since 1992.
- Between 2005 and 2017, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions fell by 12.4% on an absolute basis and by 19.9% on a per-capita basis.
For all the hysteria stemming from Trump’s decision to maintain the status quo when it came to our international environmental policies, the nations that went along with the so-called deal are being overshadowed by our superior performance.
Trump isn’t just making American great again. He’s making the world cleaner again.