4 ms·

The EU increase was a fluke, caused by the drought in Spain, which forced them to compensate the poor hydro production with fossil fuels. But they are already c

The EU increase was a fluke, caused by the drought in Spain, which forced them to compensate the poor hydro production with fossil fuels. But they are already committed to close down the coal plants by the end of next year, increasing solar and wind to compensate. What the US should worry about is its CO2 emissions per capita, which are still 2x the EU's. Quite a way to go.

jessaustin 8y ago
Yes the only way we would "catch up" from that perspective would be if Europe were to keep increasing its output, which is unlikely. But really this detail seems unimportant. We're back to 1992 levels, and there is still room for improvement. We'll be perfectly happy never catching up to Europe in this sense.
TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
> The EU increase was a fluke, caused by the drought in Spain Drought, fluke? I was of the understanding that longer more severe weather events are predicted by the climate models? So rather than being a fluke isn't this directly caused by unmitigated greenhouse gas emissions?
- icebraining 8y ago
  Fair enough, "fluke" may not be the correct word. What I mean is that it wasn't a permanent increase, but a response to an occasional event (even if those events are expected to become more common).
gedy 8y ago
> What the US should worry about is its CO2 emissions per capita Climate change does not care about "per capita" or where it originates though, only absolute values. So any reduction in absolute terms is valuable
jcranmer 8y ago
Dismissing it as a fluke is a bit short-sighted. The EU's problem with its energy policy is that it has often accidentally been regressive in terms of CO₂ emissions. Germany's decision to abandon its nuclear plants provided a sharp rise in emissions, for example, at a time when fracking in the US was causing coal plants to switch to natural gas in droves. The US's emissions are still bad, in absolute, per capita, and per GDP terms. However, the trends are still on a downwards trend, and even the current administration's policies are unlikely to be able to change that. The country to be most concerned about is China, whose emissions are the largest in an absolute sense, and even on a per capita basis are about ½ the US's, and these numbers are on upwards trends.

jessaustin 8y ago

Yes the only way we would "catch up" from that perspective would be if Europe were to keep increasing its output, which is unlikely. But really this detail seems unimportant. We're back to 1992 levels, and there is still room for improvement. We'll be perfectly happy never catching up to Europe in this sense.

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago

> The EU increase was a fluke, caused by the drought in Spain Drought, fluke? I was of the understanding that longer more severe weather events are predicted by the climate models? So rather than being a fluke isn't this directly caused by unmitigated greenhouse gas emissions?

icebraining 8y ago
Fair enough, "fluke" may not be the correct word. What I mean is that it wasn't a permanent increase, but a response to an occasional event (even if those events are expected to become more common).

gedy 8y ago

> What the US should worry about is its CO2 emissions per capita Climate change does not care about "per capita" or where it originates though, only absolute values. So any reduction in absolute terms is valuable

jcranmer 8y ago

Dismissing it as a fluke is a bit short-sighted. The EU's problem with its energy policy is that it has often accidentally been regressive in terms of CO₂ emissions. Germany's decision to abandon its nuclear plants provided a sharp rise in emissions, for example, at a time when fracking in the US was causing coal plants to switch to natural gas in droves. The US's emissions are still bad, in absolute, per capita, and per GDP terms. However, the trends are still on a downwards trend, and even the current administration's policies are unlikely to be able to change that. The country to be most concerned about is China, whose emissions are the largest in an absolute sense, and even on a per capita basis are about ½ the US's, and these numbers are on upwards trends.