How Cities, States and Businesses Are Already Fighting Climate Change Without Trump - TIME

How Cities, States and Businesses Are Already Fighting Climate Change Without Trump

Posted: 02 Jun 2017 10:11 AM PDT

The response to President Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change was swift and harsh—and it wasn’t just environmental groups and progressive politicians. Corporations and state and local officials on both sides of the aisle called the decision a risky move that not only will harm global efforts to halt climate change but also abdicates U.S. leadership around the world.
Beyond the symbolism, however, progress reducing greenhouse gas emissions is likely to continue even as the role of the federal government dwindles. Cities, states and corporations have announced their intention to adhere to the goals of the Paris deal, while other leaders, like former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and California Governor Jerry Brown, will continue to represent the U.S. on the world stage. (Bloomberg has said that his charity will cover the $15 million fee the U.S. would have paid to the United Nations climate change body as part of the accord.)

“Cities and businesses have sort of played second fiddle, they now come to the fore,” says Paul Bodnar of the Rocky Mountain Institute, who helps companies adopt sustainable energy practices. “U.S. leadership continues, albeit in a different form.” Here are some of the ways others are stepping up:

States
Much of U.S. energy policy is set at the state level. State public utility commissions following local laws and regulations control many of the decisions about where Americans get their electricity. That reality presented challenges for President Obama when he tried to push the country away from coal-fired power plants as red states challenged his Clean Power Plan in court. But now the tables have turned, and many state leaders have promised to meet and exceed the goals set in the Paris Agreement even in the absence of Trump.
Following Trump’s announcement, the governors of New York, California and Washington announced the United States Climate Alliance, which commits members to working toward the targets of the Paris Agreement without federal support. Those three states alone represent more than 20% of the country’s GDP and 10% of its greenhouse gas emissions.
“Donald Trump has absolutely chosen the wrong course,” said California’s Brown on a conference call following the announcement Thursday. “California will resist… While our president may be AWOL in the battle against climate change, we’re not. “
Several states had already participated in coalitions and consortia with the same goal in mind prior to Trump’s election. In advance of the Paris Agreement, Brown helped launch a coalition called Under 2 MOU (referring to the target of keeping temperatures from rising more than 2°C by 2100). The coalition, which now includes ten states from across the country, provides a framework for states and other sub-national governments around the world to report on their progress in a transparent way. “We don’t have to wait for the federal government to say jump. We’re already moving,” Brown told TIME at its launch.
Cities 
Cities also exercise control over much of how energy is used within their jurisdiction. And in response to Trump’s announcement, nearly 70 mayors of major cities including Los Angeles, New York and Houston made the same commitment to uphold the targets of the Paris Agreement in their own backyards.
After Trump said in his remarks on withdrawing from the agreement that he “was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto issued an executive order committing the city to the goals of the accord and a rebuke on Twitter:

As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future. https://t.co/3znXGTcd8C

— bill peduto (@billpeduto) June 1, 2017

Many metros are going even further. Nearly 30 cities across the country, from Orlando to Salt Lake City, have committed to getting 100% of their energy from renewable resources as part of a Sierra Club coalition. Stephen Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, S.C., is spearheading an effort to create a framework in the U.S. Conference of Mayors to formally support the 100% renewable target. “It was important before this week,” he says. “But it’s made that much more important because of the president’s decision.”
Some global coalitions, including the C40 Cities group sponsored by former New York Mayor Bloomberg, help structure city commitments to fighting climate change and have been working to that end since before the Paris Agreement was reached.
Business
The list of corporations critical of Trump’s decision is long and includes the likes of Silicon Valley tech giants like Apple and Facebook but also oil and gas companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Even some coal companies called on Trump to remain in the deal.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Disney CEO Bob Iger both dropped out of Trump’s business advisory councils as a result of the move:

As a matter of principle, I've resigned from the President's Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) June 1, 2017

Now, attention turns to whether these companies will actually take the fight against climate change into their own hands. While not all will respond the same way, many have already made commitments. Nearly half of Fortune 500 companies have some form of target for renewable energy deployment, greenhouse gas emissions reductions or energy efficiency, according to a report from the WWF and other organizations. And a long list of nearly 100 companies that includes the likes of Walmart, Google and Bank of America have committed to sourcing 100% of their electricity from renewable energy sources. Many corporations like Microsoft have introduced internal carbon fees to reduce emissions across the company.
The switch to renewable sources is in part to aid climate change efforts, but the targets also help corporations cut costs. The WWF report estimated that 190 companies saved $3.7 billion in 2016 with projects targeting emissions. Those efforts operate outside the influence of federal policy and will likely continue.
“Simply put, the private sector already chose a low-carbon future,” President Obama said in a statement following Trump’s announcement. “And for the nations that committed themselves to that future, the Paris Agreement opened the floodgates for businesses, scientists, and engineers to unleash high-tech, low-carbon investment and innovation on an unprecedented scale.”

North Korea Missile Tests: Wary Japan Refuses to Panic - NBC News

NEWS JUN 3 2017, 4:34 AM ET

North Korea Missile Tests: Wary Japan Refuses to Panic

by ARATA YAMAMOTO and EOGHAN MACGUIRE

TOKYO — The latest ballistic missile fired by Kim Jong Un's regime plunged into the Sea of Japan earlier this week.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has described such North Korean launches as a "grave threat to our country" and "absolutely not acceptable."

But such warnings appear to be causing little concern on the streets of Tokyo.

"I don't feel any threat, nor has it affected my daily life," said Ryoji Nakajima, a 36-year-old office worker. It was a sentiment shared by several others approached by NBC News in the city's Ginza district.

While Kim's stated aim is to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland, Japan is also home to some 54,000 U.S. military personnel. And North Korea has said it has military units positioned to strike. 

North Korea can already strike anywhere in Japan with its missiles. 

In March, Japan held its first civilian evacuation drill for a missile attack amid wariness over the military threat potentially posed by the hermit kingdom. 

But Shunji Hiraiwa, an expert in North Korean diplomacy at Nanzan University in Nagoya City, said while many people in Japan "do feel a sense of danger ... I don't think they feel that a war is imminent." 

That view was echoed by Narushige Michishita, a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. 

"Fortunately, right now it's not as if there's a clear and present danger that is sending people into panic," Michishita said. 

However, he added that "people have started to understand that it might be possible for North Korea to obtain these capabilities." 

Pyongyang has launched a series of missiles as well as carrying out two nuclear tests since the beginning of 2016. 

On Thursday, the Pentagon sent aircraft carriers the USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan to the Sea of Japan for a three-day drill alongside Tokyo's navy and air force. It involved Japanese Air Self Defence Force F-15s taking part in simulated combat with U.S. Navy F-18 fighters as part of what was characterized by Tokyo as a "major exercise." 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declared America's era of strategic patience with North Korea over. He has also refused to take possibility of military action off the table.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected calls to curtail its nuclear and missile programs, calling them legitimate self-defense.

Michishita believes North Korea's actions can be viewed as a broad strategy to secure its own future.

"It's not very clear why North Korea has been conducting these missile tests in rapid succession. But one possibility is that it's trying to gain the attention of the United States and to improve their bargaining position in the event of bringing the U.S. to the negotiating table," Michishita said. "If you take a step back and look at the larger picture, the reason for this is that they're trying to establish a deterrence in order to avoid a preventive attack from the United States."

Hiraiwa agreed. "The main objective is to negotiate with the United States by having them accept their present status and build a relationship based on that," he said.

A pedestrian looks at a TV screen broadcasting news of a North Korean missile launch while walking down a street in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday. FRANCK ROBICHON / EPA

Even if that is the case, however, the North Korea issue has raised questions about Japan's strictly defensive national security policy which has been in place since the end of the Second World War.

The Japan Times reported that Abe described Pyongyang's growing military capabilities as presenting "a new level of threat" after three other North Korean missiles landed in the Sea of Japan in March.

Hiraiwa says he thinks Abe's choice of words show he believes that "North Korea's threat level is starting to rise faster than the pace of Japan's defense capabilities."

But on the streets of Tokyo, one woman seemed more concerned about how Monday's launch might impact on her looming vacation.

Tsuyuko Tanaka, 69, said she was planning to go on a cruise that would pass through the area where the latest missile landed — which was in international waters but within Japan's exclusive economic zone.

"The best would be to resolve through dialogue, but I worry whether the North Koreans would listen," Tanaka said.

Arata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo. Eoghan Macguire reported from London. 

U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 16-Year Low Despite Slower Job Growth - TIME Business

U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 16-Year Low Despite Slower Job Growth Posted: 02 Jun 2017 06:25 AM PDT (WASHINGTON) — U.S. employers pulled back on hiring in May by adding only 138,000 jobs. Hiring was still enough to help keep pushing unemployment lower. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent. Hiring in the months of April and March were revised downward by a combined 66,000. Job gains have averaged 121,000 over the past three months, a deceleration from an average of 181,000 over the past 12 months. Average hourly earnings have risen a middling 2.5 percent over the past year. Restaurants and health care firms posted solid job gains. Food services added 30,300 workers, while health care contributed 24,300 jobs. Construction added 11,000 jobs. But manufacturers, retailers and governments shed workers last month. Despite the slowdown in job growth last month, the U.S. economy is running neither too hot nor too cold, with growth holding at a tepid but far from recessionary 2 percent annual rate. Few economists foresee another downturn looming, in part because the recovery from the recession has been steady but grinding, with little sign of the sort of overheated pressures that normally trigger a recession. The government’s monthly jobs report produces a net gain by estimating how many jobs were created and comparing that figure with how many it estimates were lost. If hiring maintains its current pace, it would exceed population growth, and the unemployment rate should eventually fall even further below its current 4.3 percent, a level associated with a healthy economy. Still, the jobs report produces several different measures of unemployment. The broadest gauge includes not only the officially unemployed but also part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs and people who want a job but aren’t actively looking for one and so aren’t counted as unemployed. Known as the “U-6” rate, this measure is one of the favorite metrics for Trump administration officials. The U-6 has declined since January, an encouraging sign that jobless people who had given up hope of working are now being hired. The falling U-6 points to a strengthening economy despite weak growth during the first three months of the year. But the influx of job seekers can also inflict a drag on pay growth. As more people start seeking jobs, employers begin to have less incentive to raise pay. It’s only when employers face a shallow pool of job applicants that they tend to feel compelled to raise pay in hopes of hiring people who fit their needs. Annual growth in average hourly earnings has been so-so in recent months. And whatever meaningful pay raises that exist are going disproportionately to managers and supervisors. Many of the jobs that have been added over the past year are in the generally lower-paying leisure and hospitality industry — hotels, restaurants and amusement parks. The Trump administration has designated the pace of hiring for good-paying skilled jobs in construction, manufacturing and mining as among the categories it monitors for economic health. Hiring in those three sectors has been comparatively sluggish over the past year.