Earth scientist Rob Jackson said in an interview that aired Tuesday on “Rising” that the rise in carbon dioxide emissions in 2018 was not directly a result of President Trump’s energy policies.
“I think most of the changes that we saw in 2018 really aren’t attributable to the Trump administration,” Jackson, a scientist at Stanford University, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball on Thursday.
“The increase in oil use began in the Obama administration about five years ago,” he said. “I mean that’s something nobody expected. We thought we saw peak oil use in this country ten, fifteen years ago, but that’s been steadily marching up.”
“The economy was good this year, and everybody wants the economy to grow,” he said. “When the economy grows, we make more things, we use more energy.”
Jackson was responding to questions about a Rhodium Group Study, released last week, which found that carbon emissions rose 3.4 percent in the U.S., which is the biggest increase in eight years.
The Trump administration has rolled back various Obama administration energy policies, including those that impact emissions.
The Rhodium Group’s findings show that the U.S. is further away from meeting the goals set by former President Obama in the Paris Climate Accords, which Trump plans to leave.
— Julia Manchester
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