America’s Ambitious Climate Plan Is Faltering

Global emissions are at records, while shift away from fossil fuels slows amid high costs, surging power demand

See By Ed Ballard and Amrith Ramkumar of The WSJ.

Keeping the air clean is laudable goal, but the benefit of actions in this area need to outweigh the costs.

Excerpts from the article:

"Renewable energy is growing faster than expected. But surging demand for power is sucking up much of that additional capacity and forcing utilities to burn fossil fuels, including coal, for longer than expected."

"The energy transition gained momentum in recent years as prices for renewable energy tumbled. Trillions of dollars in government and private investment flowed into technologies to address greenhouse-gas emissions. Industries like autos embraced major shifts in their businesses, and companies started to count and disclose their emissions.

That momentum stalled recently when costs soared, consumers balked and businesses fought against new regulations. Politicians stepped back from ambitious climate goals or campaigned against them."

"Emissions have declined as natural gas and renewables supplanted coal. But new data centers and factories are halting progress. A shift to electric vehicles and appliances could lead to a bigger crunch."

"Research firm Rhodium Group expects U.S. electricity demand to rise 24% to 29% by 2035, nearly twice the rate it projected a year ago."

"New York state’s aggressive goal of getting 70% of its electricity from renewables by 2030 has been upended by permit delays, rising costs and the cancellation of several early offshore-wind projects."

"Investment in improving the efficiency of buildings—a major driver of emissions—fell last year"

"Wind and solar are growing fast in that region [Southeast Asia] but are limited by the grid and other factors"

"Climate policy has also gotten wrapped up in trade politics. China controls swaths of the green-energy and materials supply chains. The U.S. showed it is willing to sacrifice climate action to build its own supply chains when the Biden administration put a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs."

"Faced with farmers blocking roads and spraying manure, the European Union this year dropped a proposed agricultural-emissions target from its new climate goal and relaxed green regulations in farming subsidies. Pro-environment parties that helped pass various climate laws suffered losses in recent EU elections."

"Ford Motor and General Motors are among the automakers dialing back their plans for new electric models amid flagging demand. Volvo Car recently abandoned a target to sell only fully electric cars by the end of the decade.

Mining giant Glencore was under pressure from shareholders to sell its coal business. They reversed course and encouraged the company to keep the unit, citing waning momentum in sustainable investing."