Countries are not doing enough to cut emissions that cause climate change, according to a new report from United Nations scientists.And the United States is a big part of the problem.The U.S.
sticks out as the only major economy where planet-warming pollution increased dramatically last year, the report notes.It finds that last year, the U.S.
was tied with Russia as the G20 countries with the most per capita emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-warning gases.China emits significantly more total greenhouse gases each year than the U.S., but has more than four times the population.
Overall, global emissions were basically the same last year as they were the previous year.U.S.emissions grew because of increased electricity demand, as well as Trump administration policies that support the burning of fossil fuels.
The Trump administration has ordered coal-fired power plants in the U.S.to stay open longer than planned, rolled back fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles and ended tax credits for solar and wind projects.Those policies have made the U.S.
an outlier when it comes to escalating greenhouse gas emissions, says Inger Andersen, the executive director of the U.N.Environment Programme."Right now, everybody is scrambling a little bit regarding energy security," Andersen says, pointing to global oil and gas disruptions stemming from the wars in Ukraine and Iran.Despite the geopolitical upheaval, "several G20 members have shown sustained emissions reduction," she notes.That includes the European Union, which has invested heavily in energy-efficient appliances and renewable electricity sources such as wind and solar, partly in reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.The Trump administration has withdrawn from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and is working to remove the U.S.
from all U.N.climate work, arguing the international system imposes unfair burdens on Americans.
The U.S.Environmental Protection Agency now says greenhouse gases do not pose a thr...