Wind can deliver on U.S.-China climate deal

Image: U.S. Embassy, The Hague, Creative Commons License

U.S. and China reached a historic agreement to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, providing a strong signal for investors that wind energy, among other clean electric power solutions, is a smart economic decision.

The bilateral agreement states that the U.S. will reduce carbon emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 – nearly doubling its current plans. This sends a strong message to political leaders around the world that solving climate change is a priority on both sides of the globe, and that the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan to reduce emissions from electric power plants is the right policy at the right time.

Tom Kiernan, the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association hailed the agreement, stating that wind power “is one of the biggest, fastest, cheapest ways to reduce carbon pollution and it means American workers can make more of our own energy right here in America.” He added, “This agreement sends the right message to businesses and investors that scaling up clean energy not only benefits our economy, but will continue to be supported at the highest levels as something the world needs.”

Wind energy has been the largest new zero-emission energy source for the past three decades. Use of wind energy already avoids 127 million short tons of carbon dioxide a year in the U.S. – the equivalent of taking 20 million cars off the road.

This clean power source is only expected to grow from here. The U.S. Department of Energy released a Wind Vision report showing how wind energy can scale up from over 4 percent of our electricity today to 20 percent of our electricity by 2030.