Real science shows US 2017 CO2 emissions had steepest drop in the world

Real science shows US 2017 CO2 emissions had steepest drop in the world

A new analysis from the June 2018 BP Statistical Review of Global Energy has some intriguing details on the annual emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) in 201.

The global CO2 emissions from energy in 2017 grew by 1.6%, rebounding from the stagnant volumes during 2014-2016, and faster than the 10-year average of 1.3%. However, despite the dire predictions of extinction-causing climate change after President Donald Trump nixed the American participation in the Paris Climate Accord, the nation’s C02 emissions plunged.

…Declines in CO2 emissions in 2017 were led by the US (-0.5% and 42 million tons, see chart above). 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 US declined, though the fall was the smallest over the last three years.

…Carbon emissions from energy use from the US are the lowest since 1992, the year that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) came into existence. The next largest decline was in Ukraine (-10.1% and 28.1 tons).

China and India’s C02 emission increased at the greatest rates because it was those countries who were poised to get the biggest breaks in the application of the Paris Climate Accord. Finally, it is with some amusement that I will note that EU emissions also increased, as this was from an analysis published just shortly before Trump’s withdrawal.

…However, China, India and the EU have indicated they will stick with the accord even if Mr Trump moves to withdraw the US.

Speaking to the BBC earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the accord would survive regardless of Mr Trump’s position.

Environmental groups like the Sierra Club said American withdrawal from the Paris accord would be a “historic mistake”, while Friends of the Earth said the move would “sacrifice our planet to the fossil fuel industry” and make the US the world’s “foremost climate villain”.

The topic of climate change is not featured as much in the elite media unless they need some #TrumpDerangementSyndrome-based click-bait to make the weather analysis a bit more dramatic. In part, it is because the result of the withdrawal has obviously not lived up to the hype.

Another data point the mainstream media has clipped out of its climate coverage: America’s per-capita CO2 emissions are the lowest in nearly seven decades.

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest energy report shows U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are the lowest they’ve been since 1992, and that per-capita emissions are the lowest since 1950.

The U.S. emitted 15.6 metric tons of CO2 per person in 1950. After rising for decades, it’s declined in recent years to 15.8 metric tons per person in 2017, the lowest measured levels in 67 years.

Is it any wonder then that another country is now tempted to withdraw from this agreement, which is nothing more than a carbon-based wealth distribution scheme?

Tony Abbott has called for Australia to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and torpedo the National Energy Guarantee, prompting some conservative colleagues to label the former prime minister an increasingly sad and isolated figure.

Mr Abbott, who as Prime Minister in 2015 committed Australia to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 26-28 per cent by 2030, on Tuesday called for Australia to follow the lead of US President Donald Trump and abandon any official emissions reduction policy.

I hope we can soon welcome Australia to the League of Sane Nations, which would then have 2 members.

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