EPA claims 'American ingenuity,' not Paris accord, cutting greenhouse gas emissions

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Greenhouse gas emissions continue to drop in the U.S., and the Environmental Protection Agency is crediting “American ingenuity” instead of global mandates.

The EPA’s annual report highlights continued reductions in emissions — about 2 percent below 2015 levels and 11 percent below 2005 levels.

Between 2005 and 2016, the report said, emissions in the U.S. electric power sector dropped by roughly 25 percent.

The comprehensive report looked at U.S. emissions and removals by source, economic sector, and emissions going back to 1990.

Carbon dioxide emissions removed from the atmosphere through the uptake of carbon and storage in forests, vegetation, and soils were calculated.

“This report confirms the president’s critics are wrong again: one-size-fits-all regulations like the Clean Power Plan or misguided international agreements like the Paris Accord are not the solution. The U.S. has reduced greenhouse gas emissions more than any country on Earth over the last decade,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. “American ingenuity and technological breakthroughs, not top-down government mandates, have made the U.S. the world leader in achieving energy dominance while reducing emissions — one of the great environmental successes of our time.”

Through Pruitt’s recommendation, Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord, which asked world leaders to cut planet-warming emissions by 25 percent.

Trump called the agreement a “massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries” out of sync with his America First style of governance.

Under the Paris accord, nations set individual goals for carbon dioxide emissions in the 2020s. Scientists have said those targets won’t meet an overall aim of limiting global warming to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over pre-industrial times.

Fox News' John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.