Opinion

Plaskett: Reducing Greenhouse Emissions Is An Economic Imperative For Territory

As a community working to modernize our infrastructure and reinvigorate our economy, we understand well, that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is both a matter of ensuring environmental sustainability and an economic imperative. We also know that this endeavor and our effort to conserve and protect our natural resources require global cooperation and continuous federal support. That is why the President’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord is disappointing and a missed opportunity. This decision may ultimately prove costly and consequential for the territory and the other coastal communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Under the Paris Climate Agreement, larger nations like the United States, France, Germany and China would make available more than $100 billion to incentivize the creation of renewable energy industries that would bring jobs and new economic activity to areas like the Virgin Islands. Historically, conserving and protecting our natur...