Trump: "we have now the lowest carbon"
Science: we have now the highest carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere in 15 million years and the highest carbon emissions from humans ever. In the U.S., carbon emissions WERE ticking down, but headed back up in 2017. Source: EPA
It is furthermore, as one who has worked and published on methane emissions in the past, plausible that the CH4 emissions in the figure above could be under-estimating natural gas leaks. See: @howarth_cornell and jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?… and nature.com/articles/d4158…
And in terms of global carbon emissions, as far back as scientists can go in the paleo record, the closest analog to today was over 50 million years ago and at that time best (tho v rough) estimate of avg annual emissions = only about ONE TENTH of today's. science2017.globalchange.gov
Finally, regarding the temporary drop in carbon emissions due to the coronavirus lockdowns:
Oh and I would be remiss not to mention that climate responds to CUMULATIVE emissions, not annual emissions. There again the U.S. is number one. Source: ourworldindata.org/contributed-mo…
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