Critics Increase Pressure on Paris Climate Deal as Trump Mulls Exit

Washington Examiner reports on Marlo Lewis and Chris Horner’s study on the cost of remaining in the Paris Climate Treaty.

The free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington is leading the charge to ensure Trump leaves the deal, releasing an exhaustive analysis on why staying in the deal would harm the U.S. economy.

The cost of meeting the climate change agreement will dwarf that of meeting just the climate regulations established under former President Barack Obama’s climate change plan. Obama’s regulations make up the U.S.’s preliminary commitment toward meeting the goals of the Paris deal. But as the agreement progresseses new, much more strict rules will be required, with added costs.

“Obama pledged to reduce U.S. emissions by 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, with deeper cuts every five years thereafter. That is already significant, but he went much further,” the report said. “He also committed the United States to rapidly phase out fossil fuels over 35 years.”

The cost risk would rise through 2050, as the deal would require an increase in the U.S.’s commitments every five years. “Just the first U.S. … emission reduction pledge … outstrips the achievable emission reductions of all adopted and proposed Obama climate policies, including the Clean Power Plan and other regulations Trump is rescinding, by about 49 percent,” it read.

Read the full article at Washington Examiner.