US federal government to impose carbon emissions cuts
US president Barack Obama has announced tough new environmental regulations designed to cut carbon emissions and mitigate the impact of climate change, which critics have warned could threaten jobs.
Among other measures, the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan will require a 32% cut to greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. US states will need to submit a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency outlining how they will reach the target by 2018.
The plans have met with opposition from both the energy industry and the governors of some states. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader of the US Senate, has urged states to refuse to comply with the regulations.
The attorney-general of West Virginia, Patrick Morrissey, has said his state’s government will challenge the regulations in court. In a radio interview, he said the plan is “going to lead to reduced jobs, higher electricity rates, and really will put stress on the reliability of the power grid. The worst part of this proposal is that it’s flatly illegal under the Clean Air Act and the [US] Constitution, and we intend to challenge it vigorously.”
West Virginia is one of several states whose economy is reliant on the coal industry. Coal currently supplies 37% of the US’s electricity supply and is a major contributor to the country’s carbon emissions.
IZA World of Labor author Nico Pestel has written for us about the employment effects of green energy policies, looking particularly at evidence from Germany. Noting that there are moderate positive and negative effects associate with such policies, he writes that: “Job creation and job destruction seem to cancel each other out, such that the overall net employment effect is rather limited. Neither the proponents nor the opponents of green energy policies should put forward job creation or destruction as an argument in the energy policy debate—whether in Germany or in other industrial countries.”
Read more on this story at the New York Times and CNN.
Related articles:
Employment effects of green energy policies by Nico Pestel
Find more IZA World of Labor articles on the environment here