The Paris Climate Accords Will Hurt American Energy

February 22, 2021

President Biden has made a point of immediately establishing the framework for an eco-left agenda, from appointing radical Cabinet members to canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline project. But no action ignores the best interest of America’s economy and geopolitical standing more than rejoining the Paris Climate Accords.

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes:

Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden is committing the U.S. without submitting the Paris agreement to the Senate as a treaty. They know it would never get a two-thirds vote for approval, and probably not even a simple majority. Yet the Administration will cite Paris to justify sweeping environmental regulations to raise the cost of fossil fuels and subsidize renewable energy and electric vehicles. It will bypass Congress for much of this.

Once again, like so many previous eco-left initiatives, the driving force is largely political. The consequences of this political move will be very real, though. A 2017 analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce predicted a $250 billion reduction in GDP and some 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025, all as a result of President Obama’s Paris Agreement commitments. In addition to the negative economic impact, the Accords have not proven to drive any positive environmental effects.  

Thanks to natural gas—a fossil fuel—the U.S. has outpaced most of the world in reducing emissions, and in 2019 emissions reached their lowest level since 1992. Market forces, not Paris, drove that reduction.

Meanwhile, China, a member of the Paris Accords, emitted nearly twice as much CO2 than the U.S. in 2018. China has also increased its power produced from coal plants by 15% since joining the agreement.

The Chinese Communists must sit back and marvel as they watch the U.S. undermine its own economic strength.