Trump EPA rollback sparks criticism, debate on impact (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Now the former US President Barack Obama has criticized President Trump after he rolled back much of America's climate change legislation. Well the president says he's repealing a long-standing scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health. It means pollutants from cars trucks and power plants among the largest drivers of climate change will no longer be regulated at the federal level.

[00:00:26] Speaker 2: Under the process just completed by the EPA we are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding a disastrous Obama era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers. Prices went up incredibly for a worse product. This action will eliminate over 1.3 trillion dollars of regulatory cost and help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically. You're going to get a better car, you're going to get a car that starts easier, a car that works better for a lot less money.

[00:01:07] Speaker 1: President Trump outlining the reasons behind that change. Well let's hear now from John Kerry of course a former US Secretary of State. He also served as President Biden's special envoy for climate. He's been speaking to the BBC to share his reaction.

[00:01:25] Speaker 3: There's a reason that we had an endangerment rule and the reason is that the pollution which is creating the crisis of climate is dangerous. It's a killer and the fact is that you know this decision to just do away with it really takes Orwellian governance to a new height and it invites enormous damage to people and property all around the world.

[00:01:59] Speaker 1: That's John Kerry there sharing his reaction. Well let's get more reaction now by speaking to Graham Maxton, an author and climate change economist and an advisory board member of the UN's Pathways Project. Welcome to BBC News. Look the President says this is for economic reasons and there's always a balance not just in the US but even here in the UK between how much being more climate aware costs. Do you think on balance though there is an argument from the President's side to start with and then we'll unpick the climate side to it?

[00:02:39] Speaker 4: I mean I think what this is simply confirming is the trend which we've seen since President Trump took office which is that there's a pushback against the environmental movement against regulations which which are seen to be restrictive on industry. So this is a step in the wrong direction it's not a great leap in the wrong direction.

[00:02:58] Speaker 1: A step in the wrong direction. How much do you think this is going to be a blow for climate change and all the goals that world leaders are trying to meet when it comes to those COP summits and various other climate agreements?

[00:03:11] Speaker 4: I mean as a signal it certainly sends the wrong signal. It says that climate change is not real, it says that emissions don't count and that you can do whatever you like and that's certainly a very bad signal. In terms of the actual emissions and this may surprise you considering I'm an environmentalist, I don't think it's that serious. The US accounts for about 11% of total emissions so even if we see a 10% increase in their emissions as a result of this then you'll see a 1% increase in global emissions. So it won't have a huge impact on global emissions no matter what what the US auto industry or the other fossil fuel industry does.

[00:03:52] Speaker 1: I just want to ask you a follow on that. You say you won't have an impact there but of course President Trump's rationale is it he believes it would have an impact on the cost of cars.

[00:04:01] Speaker 4: I mean it could, I mean if car manufacturers take out catalytic converters and they change their engines to make them much more polluting then of course it would make the cars cheaper and that would boost demand. But I don't think car manufacturers will necessarily do that because the car industry is a global industry and they sell their cars outside the US as well so they're engineered for other markets and it takes a long time to re-engineer a car and they've spent a lot of time and effort engineering cars to make them less polluting. So I think it's a signal again but I'm not sure the auto industry in the US is going to leap wholeheartedly into the idea that it can take out all these pollution control measures.

[00:04:41] Speaker 1: Yeah and I suppose that's because the car market's a global one and so if cars were re-modified for the US market you wouldn't be able to sell them that easily in other countries where they do have climate regulations.

[00:04:52] Speaker 4: Exactly, now the US doesn't export a huge number of cars but it does design them for international markets. The bigger concern is if they roll back the emissions regulations on the power plants, on the fossil fuel power plants because that would certainly create a lot more pollution and a lot more emissions. Again not globally important but certainly for air quality in the US that would be very serious.

[00:05:16] Speaker 1: And what do you think are the longer term repercussions of this announcement from the President then?

[00:05:22] Speaker 4: Well as again as I say not very large I mean we've already reached the point where climate change is becoming much more serious. What we've also got to remember is that it's not the annual emissions that are really important, it's the cumulative emissions, it's the build-up of emissions over the last 200 years and particularly over the last 50 years that really is causing climate change. What happens one year to the next is important but it's not nearly as important as the build-up that's taken place. So what we're seeing with the US is that they may increase the level of emissions by maybe another 10% which would be 1% in global terms which is not going to change the overall outlook at this point. So it's a very bad signal but it's not going to change the direction of where we're going to any great degree.

[00:06:09] Speaker 1: Okay, interesting perspective. Thank you very much for joining us Graham Maxton.