antonborisov

Все на английском.

Это все о климате. Факты и то, что есть на самом деле.

An Associated Press fact-check on President Obama’s climate change speech to the United Nations Tuesday accused the president of clearly spinning the facts and distorting the truth about America’s response to global warming.

The AP fact-checker faulted Obama “gloss[ing] over some inconvenient truths” in his global warming lecture Tuesday, particularly in regard to his claims about America’s attempts to clean up emissions at home and his insistence that emissions reductions do not have an impact on the economy.

The fact-check says that not only did Obama distort the numbers to claim that in the last eight years the U.S. reduced total carbon pollution “by more than any other nation on Earth”—Europe actually reducing theirs by a larger percentage in that time—Obama is hiding the fact that the U.S. has largely lowered those emissions by “sending dirty fuel abroad to pollute the same sky.”

THE FACTS: The U.S. is actually sending more dirty fuel abroad even as it takes steps to help other nations transition to cleaner energy. The U.S. has cuts its own coal consumption by 195 million tons in six years. But according to an AP analysis of Energy Department data, about 20 percent of that coal was shipped to power plants and other customers overseas. Emissions from that coal were not eliminated but rather moved to other countries. As well, the U.S. exported more products refined from oil — another dirty fuel — than it imported, starting in 2011.

Obama also tried to claim that we have been able to grow our economy while simultaneously cutting carbon emissions, “proving” there’s no conflict between combating global warming and growing the economy. The AP rips that claim apart, pointing to the Great Recession as the key factor in half of our so-called self-imposed reductions:

OBAMA: “So, all told, these advances have helped create jobs, grow our economy, and drive our carbon pollution to its lowest levels in nearly two decades — proving that there does not have to be a conflict between a sound environment and strong economic growth.”…

THE FACTS: About half of the 10 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. has achieved in recent years can be attributed to the economic recession, not any specific actions from the Obama administration. Obama’s comments also left out that U.S. carbon emissions rose 2.9 percent from 2012 to 2013, the first increase since 2007, because higher natural gas prices spurred more coal use.

Another verifiably false statement by the president was that the Climate Action Plan “was working,” helping lower greenhouse gas emissions in 2012. Major problem: the plan was not even announced until June 2013.

THE FACTS: That plan has nothing to do with reductions in emissions in 2012 because it was not announced until June 2013. Moreover, two of its cornerstone regulations — controls on new and existing coal-fired power plants — are at this point just proposals. The administration isn’t expected to complete those rules until next year and some states may not submit plans until after Obama leaves office. The statement also leaves out the fact that in 2013, emissions in the U.S. rose for the first time since 2007.

Obama did invest in renewable energy and boost fuel economy before announcing the climate plan. But the plan can’t be credited with improving anything before it came into existence.

Отсюда.