As most now know the Paris Accord was nothing more than an executive order signed by Obama, not a treaty, it has zero enforcement powers, no audit or transparency rules to determine if the “Fund” money was being spent or stolen by corrupt foreign dictators, and no requirements for the two main polluters, China and India, to do anything before 2030 if ever. The main real requirement was for US taxpayers to send tens of billions of dollars a year to lesser developed countries to build out their infrastructure with energy-efficient power grids. All while the US desperately needs infrastructure upgrades and does not have the money to do all that is needed. The US was to be the primary funder of this boondoogle.

Meantime, Obama agreed to increase regulations on US power plants and to phase out coal while China and India go on building new coal fired plants for the next 18 years. He additionally required US manufacturers and CRE to reduce emissions to levels that may not be achievable without major costs for little gain. In the end this was all about US taxpayers footing the bill to upgrade other countries when we can't afford to do what we need to do and in 100 years there would be a .2 of 1 degree lower temperature -assuming of course that you think anyone can predict what anything will be in 100 years. The US taxpayers however, had to spend the money today.

All the hysteria by Pelosi, DeBlasio, Musk, et al, is pure hyperbole to attack Trump and push an agenda that was bad for CRE. If anyone pays any attention to anything Pelosi says, you belong in la la land. Reality is without Paris there has been tremendous advances in energy savings, clean up of air, water and land. Being in the business of major brownfield land development, I can attest to the massive land clean up that has already taken place across the country and is continuing. In addition, most companies have invested in energy savings equipment and devices because it is good economics, not because there is a Accord or regulation. Corporations now demand landlords provide energy efficient spaces and clean air within the spaces. The US has the cheapest energy on the planet which is 1/3 that of Germany and ½ that of the EU in general. It is key to our being able to compete with low wage and low tax countries. Almost all of that has been done because of free market profitable solutions, not world agreements.

Claims that the US will now fall behind, will lose leadership, will not be able to do good trade deals or whatever is utter nonsense. US tech and energy equipment companies have robust and highly competitive research efforts to reduce energy use further and with new LED lights, and high tech sensors in CRE, the savings being generated is huge. I have had some deep experience with these products, and have seen the remarkable results. Nobody is going to stop trading with the US because we walked form Paris. Europe is still totally dependent on the US for military protection. They are totally dependent on the US being their biggest market. The same export market situation exists with China, Japan, and Korea. They cannot live without us.

For US CRE, walking form Paris is very good. Now we will have realistic environmental rules and laws that will not crush the cash flow. We will be able to make free market decisions of our own as to what we want to install in our buildings and when we want to expend the capital. It will no longer be up to technocrats in Brussels, or Obama's EPA. Ignore Musk, Iger etc. they have their own political agendas and social media issues that cause them to say these things, even if they do not believe what they say. The Small Business Association -or whatever its proper name, has said overwhelmingly its members think walking from Paris was the right thing for them. I assume most CRE owners will say the same if they are being objective and not political. It is no wonder Germany and France said this is terrible. Now they will have to pony up the $100 billion + a year instead of US taxpayers. The other countries are complaining because they know that without the US taxpayer, they will never see the money. Claims that China will now be the environmental leader are laughable. They are the leading polluter and are building more coal plants. When it came to Xi and the EU announcing a partnership on Paris this weekend they failed to do it because China had too many issues.

Ignore all the press and talking heads- killing Paris was very good for US CRE, the US economy, and US taxpayers.

The views expressed are the author's own.

Ignore all the press and talking heads- killing Paris was very good for US CRE, the US economy, and US taxpayers.

The views expressed are the author's own.

Instant Insights /

Paris Accord Reality Check And Impact On CRE

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