Climate change: Obama's plan, a bold project ?

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Ending his second term, the US President introduced his plan in order to tackle climate change. He presented ambitious objectives coupled with limitations on the emissions of power plants. Nevertheless, the current decisions made by his administration raise a few questions.

"We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it". This is how the President of the first world economy warned US citizens about the necessity of a challenging environmental policy. Six months before the COP21 held in Paris, he made this speech being aware that all international leaders examined his stand.

This program aims at the electric production which is still very dependent on coal power plants, a major source of pollution. Restrictions and cuts are going to be directly applied to these sectors. The main goal is to reduce overall carbon emissions by 32% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Obama recognized that it will not be a smooth process, but the US have to initiate it before it is too late. However, the President still has to face opposition from powerful energy lobbyists and the Republican majority in Congress.

Yet his administration approved Shell's decision to drill for oil and gas in Alaskan Arctic which calls into question its true commitments. According to green organisations, this plan could lead to a new catastrophe. The consequences would be even worse than the ones of the explosion of the BP drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 (eleven deaths and almost 5 million barrels of crude oil in the sea).

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