Yahoo Finance Ivanka criticised for boasting about greenhouse gas emissions drop under Trump administration
Ivanka Trump was criticised for boasting about a significant drop in greenhouse gas emissions levels - caused by the lockdowns put in place during the coronavirus pandemic.
With a large number of Americans isolating for most of this year, greenhouse gas emissions in the US dropped by 9.2 per cent, according to a new report from private research organisation Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The White House advisor tweeted to promote the achievement under her father’s administration, and was quickly put straight for the misleading brag.
“FACT: Greenhouse gases generated by the U.S. will slide 9.2% this year, tumbling to the lowest level in at least three decades. @EPA,” tweeted Ms Trump.
US CO2 emissions in 2019 were the lowest they have been since 1992. Per capita emissions were lower in 2019 than they’ve been at any time since at least 1950. https://t.co/iXebSmyXRR
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 24, 2020
American climate scientist Michael Mann had a sharp response for Ms Trump. “The Trump climate plan: drop dead,” he wrote on Twitter.
She faced a barrage of criticism across social media.
“You're so right, we often forget the silver lining to the inept bungling of the coronavirus response -- that along with a quarter million dead and an economy ground to a halt, the reduction in travel was actually good for the environment. So, yay?” tweeted historian Kevin Kruse.
Jake Tapper of CNN also took to Twitter to add proper context to Ms Trump’s claim.
“This is largely because of the pandemic and the economic catastrophe it wrought,” he wrote.
This is largely because of the pandemic and the economic catastrophe it wrought. “The biggest drop in emissions this year came from the transportation sector, where emissions fell 14 percent, dragged down by a steep drop in air travel and automobile trips.” https://t.co/FTgyAliz2M
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 24, 2020
And twitter user @SDBRMS told Ms Trump that the president’s response to the virus was the cause.
“That’s because we are all at home, due to the failure to manage a COVID-19 pandemic. Epic fail by outgoing “President” Trump’s regime,” they tweeted.
The analysis by BloombergNEF said that this year’s drop was the biggest on record and dropped to levels not seen since the 1980s.
But a large portion of the drop, around 40 per cent, was because the transportation sector was down by 14 per cent, according to the Washington Post.
It is responsible for the biggest contribution to greenhouse gas emissions in the US, says Bloomberg.
The reduction means the US is now back on track to meet its responsibilities under the Paris climate agreement, despite Donald Trump pulling the country out of the deal.
President-elect Joe Biden has already named former Secretary of State John Kerry as a special envoy to address the climate crisis.
And Mr Biden has vowed to re-join the Paris agreement on the first day of his presidency.
"Today, the Trump administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement," Mr Biden tweeted on 4 November. "And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it."
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