Buddy Carter takes his place at the climate table at COP 28

Just one of every four Republicans in the U.S. is concerned about the potential impact of warming caused by heat-trapping pollution, according to polling by the Yale University Program on Climate Change.

As a five-term GOP member of Congress, Buddy Carter considered Republicans’ skepticism as he contemplated traveling to Dubai for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP 28, which wrapped up Dec. 13.

“I did have some reservations because I thought I'd probably take some criticism from the climate deniers, but that's okay,” Carter said during a recent interview in his Savannah office. “Conservatives need to be here. We need a seat at the table.”

Carter made the trip with other members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce – an assignment he says he pushed hard for because his district covers the entire Georgia coast, which is particularly vulnerable to severe storms, sea-level rise and other effects of overall warming temperatures.

“I believe in climate change,” he insisted. “I believe it’s real.”

But he also reiterated his view that climate change is “cyclical,” a term used by many climate deniers who suggest Earth’s current period of warming is primarily a natural occurrence driven only minimally by human-caused pollution.

When asked later to clarify his "cyclical" reference, Carter replied in an email that "earth's climate goes through cycles independent of human activity."

"While humans are influencing the current state of our climate, and scientists are continuing to study the extent of that impact, we must acknowledge that a changing climate is also influenced by natural cycles that began well before humans,” he added.

There is no doubt that historical weather shifts have occurred independent of human influence. But the clear consensus among climate scientists is that rising temperatures today are fueled overwhelmingly by heat-trapping pollution that began with the Industrial Revolution.

Carter also has consistently pushed back on the notion that the world faces a climate “crisis” – a significant position given that he’s a member of the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

In a 2021 interview with NBCLX, he framed the issue this way: "There are some people who believe on the other side that it's imminent, and that the earth is going to be destroyed if we don't get this fixed in the next five to 10 years. I'm not one of those."

Experts see the situation quite differently.

With 2023 now officially declared the warmest ever recorded, the international goal of limiting future global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels becomes even more challenging. The consensus among climate scientists is that 1.5 degrees represents a threshold at which already-worsening weather events become catastrophic.

That includes direct threats to Carter’s district such as stronger, less-predictable hurricanes fueled by warmer ocean waters, and the loss of coastal property to sea-level rise.

More: Buddy Carter serves on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis but believes there's no crisis

'All of the above' energy strategy

Carter’s position on the cause of climate change has evolved to the point where he does acknowledge that human activity is a contributor, but he has avoided suggesting how much and instead insists that economic factors should drive energy decisions.

That’s why Carter said he embraces an “all of the above” energy strategy that includes the continued burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity, heat homes and power industrial machinery.

Many large utilities, including Georgia Power, are facing intense criticism for plans to increase the use of natural gas as a reliable bridge to a future dominated by emission-free energy while phasing out coal-fired power plants.

COP 28 closed Dec. 13 with an agreement by the nearly 200 delegates that signaled the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era by laying the groundwork for a swift transition to clean energy.

While Carter said he “wasn’t pleased” with that language, he was encouraged that COP 28 participants officially called for accelerating the deployment of nuclear power, an emissions-free source that is still available when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind isn’t blowing.

He noted that two units at Georgia Power’s long-delayed Plant Vogtle came online this year. Each can power the equivalent of 500,000 homes and businesses.

“I'm all for wind power and solar power,” Carter said. “But we all know that we’ve got to have ... a reliable baseload (of available energy), and nuclear gives that to us.”

Critics counter that Vogtle’s billions of dollars in budget overruns – being covered largely by higher rates for customers – are evidence that the cost of nuclear energy is unacceptably high, even if it emits no climate-impacting carbon dioxide.

Most utilities now interested in adding nuclear capabilities are considering smaller reactors that produce less power but can be built in pieces at a factory then assembled on site.

More: Georgia Power no longer plans to acquire energy-generating 'asset'

No 'picking winners and losers'

As unlikely as it may have seemed decades ago, nuclear energy is becoming somewhat of a political uniter, Carter noted.

“One of my Democratic friends (on the House Energy Committee) was telling me, ‘Y'all don't know how far we as Democrats had to come to accept nuclear power,’” he said.

But stark political differences remain on the federal government’s role in a shift to clean energy.

President Joe Biden’s administration has made financial incentives – largely involving tax breaks for buyers and makers of electric vehicles – the centerpiece of an ambitious goal of having 50 percent of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030.

Carter disagrees with that approach.

“It concerns me, because what if we get a new administration that says, ‘We’re not going to go that route,’” Carter said. “And you know, we shouldn't be in the business of picking winners and losers. We should let the market decide.”

But Georgia is becoming a big winner in the electric-vehicle industry largely because of $7,500 federal tax credits tied to the purchase of EVs. To qualify, the vehicles must be assembled in North America using components manufactured on the continent.

Those requirements have helped to fuel a wave of EV-related international and domestic investment in the U.S.

In Carter’s district, Hyundai Motor Group’s $7.6 billion EV and battery plant under construction in Bryan County is contributing to an economic-development surge that has made Georgia the Southeast’s leader in electric-vehicle related employment (about 28,000 jobs) and investment ($20.4 billion), according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

However, Carter, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Hyundai plant, pointed to the project as a potential example of “policies getting ahead of innovation.”

“Please don't misinterpret me on this because I could not be happier to have the single largest economic development project in the history of the state in the 1st District,” Carter said. “But are we going to have (enough) charging stations available? And how are we going to be able to provide the electricity to these charging stations?

“You know, all of that goes hand in hand. So it does concern me – this ‘rush to green’ – if we're ... getting too far out in front of our skis.”

The U.S. now has more than 165,000 EV charging ports, and Biden has committed to building a national network of at least 500,000 public chargers by 2030.

The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included $7.5 billion for EV charging, $5 billion of it for building a “backbone” of high-speed chargers spaced no less than every 50 miles along America’s major roads, freeways and interstate highways.

The remaining $2.5 billion is earmarked for competitive grants to states and local governments to fill gaps along charging corridors and to provide more accessible charging.

In Georgia, drivers now have access to more than 1,860 public charging locations featuring nearly 5,000 individual ports, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technology Office.

The bulk of those are Level 2 chargers, which add 10 to 20 miles of range per hour of plug-in time.

Public Level 2 stations are typically located in parking garages or at businesses, government facilities and other destinations where vehicles can be charged while they are parked.

More than 800 DC fast chargers – which deliver 180 to 240 miles of range per hour – are also available throughout the state.

More: Hyundai to raise wages 25% for U.S. workers, will apply at Bryan County plant

More from Carter

The role of fossil fuels: “I really think that a lot of environmentalists are understanding now that we’re never going to get to get where we want to be without the use of fossil fuels. Now, I can see a time in the future when fossil fuels are clean energy.”  

The fossil fuel industry: “I will tell you that I have made it clear to the fossil fuel industry that I don't think they're doing their part in letting the public know just how much they've decreased emissions over the years ... through just innovation.”

The approach to addressing climate change: “We need to talk about the emissions part of it and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, decreasing carbon emissions, and not necessarily the source of it.”

Future COP gatherings: “This the first one I've been to, but it won't be the last one.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Buddy Carter: No climate crisis but GOP must 'be at the table'