EU Blasts Trump For Rejecting Climate Accord, Then Increases Coal Exports From USA

US Coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to government data, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working.

Donald Trump climate change policy Paris EU coal exports US

GETTY — US coal exports have jumped more than 60 per cent this year due to demand from Europe and Asia

The increased shipments came as the European Union and other US allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal.

The previously unpublished figures provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed exports of the fuel from January through May totalled 36.79 million tons, up 60.3 percent from 22.94 million tons in the same period in 2016.

While reflecting a bounce from 2016, the shipments remained well-below volumes recorded in equivalent periods the previous five years.They included a surge to several European countries during the 2017 period, including a 175 percent increase in shipments to the United Kingdom, and a doubling to France – which had suffered a series of nuclear power plant outages that required it and regional neighbours to rely more heavily on coal.

“If Europe wants to lecture Trump on climate then EU member states need transition plans to phase out polluting coal,” said Laurence Watson, a data scientist working on coal at independent think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative in London.

Nicole Bockstaller, a spokesman at the EU Commission’s Energy and Climate Action department, said that the EU’s coal imports have generally been on a downward trend since 2006, albeit with seasonable variations like high demand during cold snaps in the winter.