By John A. Charles, Jr.
President Trump made the right call last Thursday when he terminated participation by the U.S. in the Paris Climate Agreement.
The central problem with the Paris agreement was that the alleged benefits were speculative, long-term, and global; yet the costs to Americans would be real, immediate, and local. It was a terrible deal for American taxpayers who would have been required to send billions of dollars to an international green slush fund, with no accountability.
Pulling out of the Paris agreement does not mean that the climate change apocalypse is upon us. The carbon intensity of the U.S. economy has dropped by 50% since 1980 simply through technological innovation and the dynamic market process. If reducing carbon dioxide is a worthy policy goal—which is just an assumption—the United States already has an impressive track record of reducing emissions.
The Paris agreement was always a triumph of symbolism over substance.
The man who predicted that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement is coming to Portland this Friday, June 9. Myron Ebell is director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment. He led the Trump Presidential Transition’s agency action team for the EPA and will give a unique perspective on the new administration’s environmental agenda.
Visit cascadepolicy.org for tickets to our Friday, June 9th luncheon. Reservations are required.
John A. Charles, Jr. is President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization.
