'I don't believe' U.S. government climate report finding
- by Brittany Mendoza
- in Research
- — Nov 28, 2018
US President Donald Trump has declared he does not "believe" the findings of an official US government report which warns climate change is set to cost the American economy billions of dollars. US's industrial carbon emissions slipped 2.7 per cent previous year as use of natural and renewable energy rose but according to Trump's critics, the withdrawal from the global deal meant the USA ceded the leadership to others in the fight to curb climate change.
The report says climate change will harm infrastructure and property and impede economic growth without regional planning and a substantial global effort to curb emissions.
The report warned of massive economic losses if carbon emissions continue to feed climate change unchecked.
Trump said other countries must take measures to cut their emissions.
Trump suggested there was little point in the USA addressing its greenhouse gas emissions if "all of these other countries" - including high emitters such as China and Japan - fail to reduce theirs in step.
"Right now we're at the cleanest we've ever been and that's very important to me". "If we're clean, but every other place on earth is dirty, that's not so good", Trump said. "So I want clean air, I want clean water, very important".
Last year, Trump announced his intent to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris deal to combat climate change, becoming the first country of 200 to do so.
The effects will spill into global trade, hitting import and export prices and U.S. businesses with overseas operations and supply chains, it added.
Compiled by more than 300 scientists, the Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II is a congressionally-mandated report that spans more than 1,000 pages.
These included US federal agencies and a panel of the US National Academy of Sciences.
The president, administration officials and elected Republicans frequently say they can not tell how much of climate change is caused by humans and how much is natural.
The report also said projections of damage could change if greenhouse gas emissions were curbed, although numerous impacts of climate change, like powerful storms, droughts and flooding, have already begun.
