How will the Clean Power Plan improve US energy performance?

President Barack Obama is due to unveil his Clean Power Plan to the American people. If successful, the plan will cut US greenhouse gas emissions by almost one-third over the next 15 years by increasing the country’s use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

The president has explained that the plan is “the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” to curb climate change. Nevertheless, the United States, much like other major global economies, has found it difficult to transition to cleaner energy at a faster pace. In fact, in the World Economic Forum’s Global Energy Architecture Performance Index, the United States ranked 37th globally, and 23rd out of 32 advanced economies.

One reason for this is that many of the top 10 countries have undertaken successful reforms in the past years and decades which are far more ambitious. For example, Denmark, which ranked at number 7 this year, has vowed to become completely independent of fossil fuels by 2050.

As the EAPI points out, one of the reasons for the United States’ lower ranking is that its sheer size, and thus demand, has prevented it from moving as quickly as other, smaller, advanced economies. This problem is not exclusive to the United States. The report explains that “faster resource transitions tend to be the preserve of small economies with suitable resources and policies. Seventeen large nations with complex energy systems tend to perform less well on the EAPI.”

An examination of the performance of the four largest advanced and four largest emerging economies by GDP (2013) reveals that while alternative and nuclear energy makes up 16% of the energy supply in the Unites States, that figure is much higher for other economies such as Brazil (43%) and France (52%).

Have you read?
How cities are adapting to climate change
What the world thinks of climate change
Which countries emit the most greenhouse gas?

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Author: Donald Armbrecht writes for Agenda. 

Image: A wind turbine is seen in a field of corn in Haverhill, Iowa, United States. REUTERS/Jim Young