OPINION: U.S. can meet Paris climate goals, with or without the Supreme Court

As world leaders gathered Friday in New York to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change, some expressed concern that the U.S. Supreme Court has put the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan on hold. Their concern is understandable, but it’s important to recognize: The federal government is not the primary force in the U.S. fight against climate change, and even if the court ultimately strikes down certain parts of the plan, the United States will meet and probably exceed its commitment to reduce emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025. Here’s why:

It was a modest goal. By 2015, the United States had already cut emissions by 11 percent compared with 2005 levels. So our starting line was nearly halfway to our goal. Given this progress, many of us believed that President Obama should have set a more ambitious target. Even now, with the Clean Power Plan on hold, a more ambitious goal is achievable....