Due to ongoing decarbonization efforts taking place outside of a regulatory framework, parties to the Paris Agreement appear unworried by the recent Supreme Court stay of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s climate change agenda.
Speaking at a recent briefing hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, Bruno Fulda, counselor for ecology, transportation, and energy at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., said he sees progress being made in the U.S. already, without the regulation. “From what I’ve seen on the ground talking with governors, with local EPAs, and also with utilities, the fact that the Clean Power Plan was written and was negotiated for years [means] that industrialists have taken it into account; even if they oppose it, they are making plans just in case,” he said.
In December, the U.S. alongside nearly 200 other nations approved the Paris Agreement, under which countries submitted voluntary commitments to fight climate change under a legally binding framework. In its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) the U.S. has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.
At the center of that pledge is the Clean Power Plan, which requires states to develop action plans to meet federally set, state-specific carbon emissions reduction goals. Early last week, however, the Supreme Court granted a stay of the rule, shelving it until legal challenges are resolved, likely in mid-2017 or 2018.
Georg Maue, counselor for energy and climate policy at the German Embassy, echoed Fulda’s sentiment, noting that the high court’s decision did not overturn the rule outright, although that is a possible outcome of the ongoing legal battle. “This could mean that the Supreme Court decides in a not supportive way in the end, and the Clean Power Plan might not survive the way it is now, but still we see there are a lot of reasons why this [decarbonization] development will maintain.”
Maue also sympathized with the administration in light of reports that the loss of the Clean Power Plan would widen the gap between the nation’s INDC and what can be achieved using current authorities. “There is, of course, a gap. If you compare the reduction from the INDCs and then the implemented policies, of course, there is always a gap,” he said. “But I think that’s the very nature of a target, you start with a target and then, of course, you have to implement more.”
