Flanked by coal miners, Trump enacted his “Energy Independence” executive order at the Environmental Protection Agency. But Trump and several members of his administration have doubts about climate change, and Trump promised during his campaign to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, arguing it would hurt US business. Since being elected, Trump has been mum on the Paris deal and the executive order does not address it. Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change who helped broker the Paris accord, lamented Trump’s order. The Clean Power Plan required states to collectively cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Source: Mint March 28, 2017 20:26 UTC