US President continues to make his mark on climate change

(Baonghean.vn)- After a series of recent successes such as normalizing relations with Cuba, reaching a historic nuclear agreement with Iran, US President Barack Obama has just made another step that is considered to create the next mark in the final stage of his term. That is the announcement of the draft "Clean Energy Plan" which Mr. Obama himself called "the most important and biggest step forward". Will Mr. Obama's move to create this mark be successful?

US President Barack Obama has high hopes for the "New Clean Energy Plan".Source: AP

Bold and groundbreaking energy plan

Affirming that climate change is the biggest threat to the world today, not just the United States, President Obama has just officially announced a plan to drastically reduce carbon emissions from power plants called "America's Clean Power Plan". The plan includes a series of laws and regulations on pollution from US power plants, setting limits on carbon emissions from these plants for the first time. Accordingly, by 2030, plants must reduce CO2 emissions by 32% compared to 2005 levels. Mr. Obama's plan also encourages switching to renewable energy, investing more heavily in wind and solar power.

In fact, climate change has always been a hot topic in American politics since President Obama took office in early 2009. Mr. Obama has repeatedly emphasized the policy of reducing toxic emissions. Especially in the last two years of his term as President, fighting climate change has become a top priority. On March 19, Mr. Obama signed an executive order requiring the federal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 2008 levels over the next decade. Then, on March 31, President Obama's administration officially submitted to the United Nations a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28% compared to 2005 levels over the next decade. This is considered part of a general strategy, aiming towards a historic global agreement on fighting climate change at the United Nations conference scheduled to take place in Paris, France later this year. Or earlier in November last year, the US and China reached a historic agreement on reducing emissions by 2030. In it, the US President also set a target for Washington to cut greenhouse gas emissions from 26% to 28% by 2025.

Sparking controversy in American politics

However, unlike President Obama, Republicans believe that the coal industry is still the main industry in the US, so the reduction plans will have a significant impact on the country's economy. Republican lawmakers believe that these are arbitrary measures and will have serious consequences for the economy, despite the fact that, according to President Obama, this new plan will help reduce the price of electricity bills of Americans in the future and create jobs in the renewable energy industry. Even in the case of natural gas becoming more popular, hundreds of coal-fired plants across the US will still provide about 40% of the country's electricity. Or like with the agreement to reduce emissions reached late last year with China, the Republican Party, which currently controls both houses of the US Congress, also strongly opposed and said that the White House lacked the legitimate political support to reach an international agreement.

But despite the opposition of the Republicans, President Obama still steadfastly stands firm in his stance. And the White House owner's determination comes from many reasons. First, having been identified as a focus of his presidency, fighting climate change is expected by Mr. Obama to become a highlight, a unique mark after leaving office. This goal also comes from the fact that the US in recent years has suffered unpredictable consequences of climate change, of which superstorm Sandy in 2012 is the clearest example. Second, in the context of the United Nations conference on climate change scheduled to take place in Paris, France later this year, the US, as the world's economic leader, can hardly stand aside from global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Because for decades, the US and China - the two largest emitters in the world - have always compared each other to see who will voluntarily cut first and by how much. Because of this dispute, the Kyoto Protocol adopted in Japan in 1997 was not fully implemented.

And third, according to observers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions is also an important step to pave the way for the Democrats in the race to the White House in 2016. This goal is easy to see when recently, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - the leading candidate of the Democratic Party, introduced an ambitious program on developing solar energy and other renewable energy sources. According to analysts, Mrs. Hillary wants to clearly affirm the difference with her Republican opponents who support fossil energy. Therefore, the image of the first female US president to create a revolution in energy use is heavily dependent on the steps of the current President Obama. For such reasons, President Obama will certainly be determined to achieve his goal, even though the energy plan is predicted to spark a tense debate between the White House and Congress, as well as between environmental protection lawmakers and the coal industry in the US.

Phuong Hoa