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USCAN: Connecting Voices on Climate Change
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 June 27, 2007 - The New Jersey Legislature passed a major emissions bill last week in an effort to combat climate change. The bill requires the state to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050. Governor Jon Corzine has indicated that he will sign the bill into law, making New Jersey one of the first states to set targets for greenhouse gas reductions out to 2050.
The bill tasks the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection with coordinating efforts over the next year to recommend a plan for meeting the 2020 reduction target. They will then have until June of 2010 to develop a strategy for meeting the 2050 target. Scientists agree that industrialized countries must reduce emissions of global warming pollution by at least 80% below 1990 levels in order to decrease the chances that the most dangerous impacts of climate change will occur. New Jersey’s plan is an important step in getting the U.S. toward this crucial requirement.
This bill adds New Jersey to the growing list of states passing various forms of legislation that aims to limit global warming pollution. The continued efforts of these states put further pressure on the federal government to set national standards as stringent as those passed in the states, to provide consistent and adequate requirements for the entire nation.
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June 22, 2007 - Last night, the Senate passed its energy bill—a bill that marks a step towards reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions and moving towards more efficient and renewable energy production and consumption.
Among other achievements, the bill includes:
- The first substantial CAFE increase in 30 years
- The expansion of biofuels production with some environmental safeguards
- An oil savings goal of 10 million barrel-per-day reduction by 2031
- Better appliance and lighting efficiency standards
- Subsidies for fuel-efficient vehicles
- A provision making gas price-gouging a federal offense
The bill also kept out several provisions which would have hampered efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions greatly. Specifically, it has no mandates or subsidies for the production of liquid coal, it kept intact the moratorium on oil and gas drilling off America’s coast, and it avoided inappropriately streamlining the permitting process for oil refineries.
Two major issues were unable to be included in the bill:
- The 15% RES offered by Sen. Bingaman was blocked by Senate Republicans, despite the potential for the amendment to achieve a 60 vote threshold that could have overcome any filibuster on the issue. Sen. Bingaman and Senate Majority Leader Reid had a colloquy submitted into the record in which the Majority Leader confirmed his intention of having a vote on the RES during this congress.
- The Senate Finance tax package was blocked by Republicans but will likely be taken up later this year. The package includes incentives for increased renewable energy production, funded by removing existing tax breaks and increasing taxes on oil companies.
See these statements for more information and reactions:
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Last week, the leaders of the world’s eight richest nations (the G8) held their annual summit, with climate change at the top of the agenda. While they were able to come out with a joint agreement on the issue, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was not able to get the group to commit to the 50% reduction in global emissions by 2050 that she was hoping for.
A positive step forward came when the group confirmed that the UN is the forum where future climate negotiations will take place, disregarding President Bush’s attempts to derail the UN process by proposing a new U.S.-led initiative. They further agreed that by 2009 there should be a global agreement detailing how to move forward with climate protection after the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. The leaders concluded that there must be real progress made on shaping this commitment at the UN climate summit in Bali this December.
Reactions to the climate agreement produced at the summit have been mixed. While the steps taken to prepare the framework for future climate protection were welcomed, we need worldwide reductions in global warming pollution of at least 50% by 2050 to avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change. Our leaders, especially those of the world’s most wealthy nations, must pledge to take real action to protect the climate and reduce global warming pollution.
Read the text of the G8 declaration
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June 5, 2007 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is preparing for a major push on climate issues at the upcoming G8 summit of the largest industrialized countries this week. As Germany prepares to host the summit, Merkel has stressed the importance of reaching an agreement that calls for real and definitive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized countries.
Referencing the international scientific consensus and the recent United Nations IPCC reports that show the urgency of starting to reduce global warming pollution within the next decade, the draft statement calls for a 50% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the majority ofwhich will happen in the G8 member countries.
Also stressed is the role of the United Nations in continuing the process started under the Kyoto Protocol. Merkel described her position as “non-negotiable,” concerning the status of the United Nations as the primary forum to combat climate change and said she is still hoping to lay the groundwork for the start of a post-2012 climate agreement to take place at the next UN climate convention in Bali in December. This comes in light of President Bush’s recent announcement of his own strategy for a set of US-led climate talks.
As the summit approaches, a number of leaders, private companies, and NGOs have issued statements calling for action by the G8. British Prime Minister Tony Blair emphasized the “duty” of the G8 to make progress on climate change this week, while statements asserting the need to keep future negotiations within the existing UN bodies, as opposed to new US-led talks, have been issued by Brazil, China, and EU countries.
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 May 23, 2007 - The Oregon House of Representatives easily passed a renewable energy bill on Wednesday which calls for renewable energy to account for 25 percent of utility electricity sales by 2025. The bill was passed 41 to 18 in the House.
A similar bill was passed in the Senate earlier in April, and Governor Ted Kulongoski has made the bill a major part of his energy agenda and will likely sign the bill into law as soon as the similar House and Senate bills are reconciled. He sees it as a way to 'green-up' Oregon's image and to encourage clean-energy technologies such as wind and solar power. Several large wind farms are already operating or under development in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge. When signed into law, Oregon will join 23 other states who have passed clean-energy requirements, but will stand out as a leader in the standards it sets forth. See the bill at the Oregon House website here.
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May 4, 2007: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Working Group III report today on mitigation options to address global warming. The report outlines a variety of solutions, many of which can be
implemented today. The findings also show that inaction now will lead to ballooning costs to address dangerous climate change in the future.
Some key messages from the report include: - If the world reduces emissions of heat trapping gases to 50 to 80% of 2000 levels by mid century, we could prevent dangerous warming by limiting temperature increase to about 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
- We must start reducing global warming emissions now because our actions (or inaction) in the next two to three decades will determine how severe the consequences will be for our children and grandchildren.
- There is plenty of "low-hanging fruit" - technology that exists today - that can help to level off and even reduce global warming emissions.
- Renewable energy is a winner on several accounts--it fights global warming, creates jobs, enhances energy security, and improves air quality.
- It is cheaper and faster to improve energy efficiency to meet growing energy needs rather than to build new power plants.
- The costs of addressing global warming could be much smaller than the costs of inaction.
The Working Group III Summary for Policymakers can be found at the IPCC website here: www.ipcc.ch
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