ENERGY activists warned today that the Obama administration’s efforts to wean the US off polluting fuels could be futile.

They pointed out that energy companies have been exporting the unwanted leftovers to other parts of the world where they could create even more pollution.

“This is the single biggest flaw in US climate policy,” said former Environmental Protection Agency counsel Roger Martella.

“Although the administration is moving forward with climate change regulations at home, we don’t consider how policy decisions in the US impact greenhouse gas emissions in other parts of the world.”

Exports have made the US appear to be making progress on global warming, because they shift some pollution — and the burden for cleaning it up — onto other countries.

But the Obama administration has resisted calls to evaluate and disclose such global fallout, saying that if the US didn’t supply the coal, another country would.

US exports to Germany, for example have more than doubled since 2008, providing a cheaper alternative to cleaner-burning natural gas and a replacement for nuclear power, which is being phased out since the Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Last year, Germany’s carbon dioxide emissions grew by 1.2 per cent, in large part because the country burned more coal.

Activists blame the US.

“It’s a classic case of political greenwashing,” said German environmental group Bund spokesman Dirk Jansen.

“Obama pretties up his own climate balance, but it doesn’t help the global climate if Obama’s carbon dioxide is coming out of chimneys in Germany.”