Beyond EPA's Clean Power Decision: Climate Action Window Could Close as Early as 2023

As the Trump administration repeals the U.S. Clean Power Plan, a new study from the University of Michigan underscores the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions -- from both environmental and economic perspectives.

For the U.S.'s most energy-hungry sectors -- automotive and electricity -- the study identifies timetables for action, after which the researchers say it will be too late to stave off a climate tipping point.

And the longer the nation waits, the more expensive it will be to move to cleaner technologies in those sectors -- a finding that runs contrary to conventional economic thought because prices of solar, wind, and battery technologies are rapidly falling, they say.

Steps outlined in the Clean Power Plan, as well as in the 2016 Paris climate accord, would not have been enough to meet the goal of keeping global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, the study shows.

To achieve the 70-percent reduction target for carbon dioxide emissions used in the study, additional steps would be needed -- and before 2023.  The window for effective action could close that early.

Read more at Beyond EPA's Clean Power Decision:  Climate Action Window Could Close as Early as 2023