Wednesday, November 4 in the morning, we may not know the name of the new president of the United States. But one thing will be certain, the United States will have left the Paris climate agreement. As it entered into force on November 4, 2016, the United States had to wait three years before being able to notify its withdrawal, with an additional one-year notice.
If Democrat Joe Biden wins, the latter will undoubtedly announce his intention to join this agreement negotiated under the presidency of Barack Obama, once invested in the White House, on January 21, 2021, which means an American return to the earlier a month later. If Donald Trump is re-elected, he will praise his climate record, as did his vice-president, Mike Pence, on Wednesday, October 7, in his debate with Kamala Harris.
Industrial change
United States Energy Information Agency (EIA) predicts a 10% drop in CO emissions for 20202, Covid-19 requires. These have already fallen by 2.9% in 2019, due to a mild winter and summer, leading to reduced use of heating and air conditioning. Since the peak of 2007, just before the great financial crisis, American emissions will have fallen by around 23% in 2020 (14% if we stop the counter in 2019).
In question, the inexorable decline of coal, whose share in the production of electricity fell to 20%, against more than half at the beginning of the century. “Last year, the United States consumed more renewable energy than coal for the first time since the 1880s”, summarizes it Wall Street Journal. CO emissions2 due to coal have been halved since the peak of 2007. Donald Trump cannot avail himself of it, since he had made the electoral promise to revive this unprofitable energy.
National consumption fell by a fifth over the first three years of his mandate and will collapse again in 2020. The power stations have been replaced by those, less polluting, natural gas (+ 36% emissions over ten years , 1.7 billion tonnes) and renewable energies. For ten years, wind power has tripled its production (8.5% of electricity), while that of solar has quintupled in five years (2.4%). Hydraulics represent 7.5% of production.
Americans are taking advantage of the digital switchover to accelerate their industrial transformation. Tesla is the undisputed star of the electric automobile, which is worth 400 billion on the stock market, nine times General Motors, fifty times Renault. Under pressure from consumers and employees, companies are trying to reduce their emissions, including Amazon: the group founded by Jeff Bezos has pledged to reduce its net CO emissions2 to zero by 2040 and to use 100% renewable energy by 2030.
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