National Efforts to Reduce Carbon Emissions have Local Impacts

The biggest changes we need to make to help the environment have to come from a governmental level. Commitment to reducing emissions on national levels is the best way to try and undo the damage done by humans on this planet.

Starting at an international level, the Paris Agreement is the prime example of international policy meant to save the Earth. The international accountability is a motivator for countries across the world to start taking their global footprint seriously.

On a national level, the United Kingdom is trying to reduce its footprint. It has made a Carbon Plan meant to reduce carbon levels to 50 percent what it was in 1990 by 2027. The longer-term goal is to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Those huge goals, which are legally binding, provide a realistic framework that the government and the people of the UK can work towards.

“In other words, this generation has taken vital steps to ensure that our children and grandchildren will see that we did our duty in securing the future of our planet,” said David Cameron, former Prime Minister. “What is so special about this deal is that it puts the onus on every country to play its part.”

On a local level, I’ve seen the effects directly in Sunderland. The city council released a plan last year to reduce local carbon emissions 34 percent by 2020.

This means the city council is looking directly at their carbon output and reevaluating it in order to achieve this goal. Carbon emission is a global problem, but it’s the mass changes at local levels that will actually help.

The city council understand the local effect on global warming and sees it as obligatory to reduce emissions.

“As an organization that uses carbon‐based fuels, Sunderland City Council is contributing to climate change,” the report says. “Therefore, we have a statutory obligation to manage the carbon emissions that arise from these activities.”

If humans are to save the world, we need a mass effort of small communities to commit to stopping climate change like Sunderland is attempting to do now. But when we look at the top contributors of carbon, the USA is second after China.

And this country does not seem to have the same devotion to reducing emissions.

I was heartbroken was President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. While there is a four-year withdrawal process, meaning the US remains in the agreement as of today, the administration does not have the environment as a priority.

According to the Climate Action Tracker, which holds countries accountable for their roles in the Paris Agreement, the actions of the US are ‘critically insufficient,’ the worst possible ranking. As one of the biggest countries in the world, this is especially concerning.

But maybe local changes are still possible in the US. Just yesterday, Xcel Energy announced a power plan that would cut carbon emissions in half by 2026.

“Xcel’s Colorado Energy Plan is a true testament to how fast the cost of clean energy is dropping,” said Zach Pierce, senior representative of the Sierra Club. “This plan makes clear that we can power our communities with reliable, affordable and clean power made in Colorado for Colorado.”

The company serves eight mostly rural counties in Colorado and the plan still needs official approval, but even without an apparent national motivation there are ways for communities to reduce carbon emissions. It's something we should all push our governments to do.