To use current policy scenarios in order to justify the repeal of current policies (as the EPA is attempting to do) rests on a fundamentally flawed premise. If the world actively repeals climate policies – which the US proposes doing – it would potentially push us to a higher emissions scenario. Indeed, the high end uncertainty of a SSP4-6.0 scenario – which still involves large CO2 emissions reductions by 2100 – would be quite close to the upper end of the EPA’s 2009 range.

Similarly, the fact that the world has made some progress in bending down the curve of future emissions should not be used as a justification that climate change is not a problem.