Despite emissions cuts, U.S. off track to hit its goals: report

The U.S. is making cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions as clean energy booms — but not enough to hit the target set under the Paris Agreement, according to a new report.

The U.S. is making deep cuts in its greenhouse gas emissions as clean energy booms — but not enough to hit the target it set under the Paris Climate Agreement, according to a new analysis from Rhodium, a research company that tracks U.S. progress toward its climate goals. 

Under the agreement, in which 194 countries pledged to limit global average rises in temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius, the U.S. set a goal of reducing its emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. The Rhodium report projects U.S. greenhouse gas emissions will fall 32% to 43% below that threshold by 2030 and 38% to 56% five years later. 

The report suggests that clean energy investment is accelerating rapidly, that economic growth no longer depends on fossil fuels and that President Joe Biden’s two climate initiatives — the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — are helping push the pace of electrification.

But there are headwinds, as well: Power-hogging data centers have begun to push electricity demand higher, the Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that undermined federal regulatory power, and Democrats and Republicans are pushing radically different climate agendas as the election looms. 

The U.S. set records last year for adding solar power and clean energy storage to the grid, the report says. Ben King, an associate director with the Rhodium Group’s energy and climate practice, said history is likely to remember the past few years as an “inflection point” in climate policy. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/emissions-cuts-us-off-track-paris-goals-rcna163084

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