Over the 21 months of his presidential campaign Barack Obama repeatedly stressed themes of change: finding new solutions to the problems of today’s world.  This philosophy certainly extends to the President-elect’s bold and comprehensive plan to overhaul the country’s energy policy and actively engage in the global fight against climate change.  Below, we outline some of the most significant items on the Obama administration’s climate and energy “to-do” list:

Diversify Energy Sources and Reward Energy Efficiency

A major plank of the President-elect’s energy proposals is to focus American ingenuity on renewable energy and other “green” technologies. As he sees it, this focus will have both environmental and energy security benefits, but most importantly in these troubled economic times, help stimulate the economy through the creation of new “green collar” jobs. President-elect Obama indicates that by ensuring that America is a leader in clean energy technology, such as deploying carbon capture and storage, his plan will create at least five million new jobs, and create demand for American expertise around the world. The President-elect’s plan has several strategies for accomplishing this:

1) Accelerating investment in green technology, both by providing incentives for the private sector and by investing $150 billion of federal money over the next 10 years;

2) Extending the Production Tax Credit for five years; and

3) Creating a national Renewable Portfolio Standard beginning at 10% by 2012 and increasing to 25% by 2025.

To support this massive expansion of alternative energy, President-elect Obama’s plan also advocates the creation of a unified national “smart grid,” which has been strongly encouraged by Al Gore’s group Alliance for Climate Protection. 

Design and Implement Comprehensive Cap and Trade Legislation

Throughout his campaign, President-elect Obama advocated for an economy-wide cap and trade program to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, his proposal, which would slash GHGs to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, is more aggressive than either GHG control effort undertaken by the House or Senate (the Dingell-Boucher bill proposes reductions of 80% below 2005 levels by 2050 and the Lieberman-Warner bill proposed reductions of 70% below 2005 levels by 2050). Then candidate Obama’s platform advocated a 100% auction of carbon credits, with a portion of the proceeds would go towards supporting clean energy and energy efficiency technology.

Demonstrate U.S. a Leadership in International Climate Change Negotiations

President-elect Obama’s election seems to have renewed the faith of world leaders that the U.S. will re-engage with the international fight against climate change.  Barack Obama has indeed said that his administration will actively participate in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Increased U.S. participation in the UNFCCC should both help to create a Global Energy Forum and fashion a successor to the Kyoto treaty, by the previously set goal of the Copenhagen CoP at the end of 2009.  Yvo de Boer, an official with the UNFCCC, said in an interview in Beijing that President-elect Obama “brings a really fresh and constructive perspective on this issue…Leadership from the U.S. on this issue can have a huge impact on the dynamics of these negotiations.”  Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said “Obama realizes that the U.S. needs a totally different energy future. And if that’s the case, then it clearly answers any doubts on action for reducing emissions.”  Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is proposing a climate-change pact with the President-elect, calling it “essential” to making progress on the environment.

Reduce the Transportation Sector’s Carbon Footprint

President-elect Obama has also called it an “economic, national security and environmental imperative” that the U.S. ends its “near total” dependence on oil.  The Obama energy plan proposes: 1) increasing fuel economy standards 4% each year; 2) developing advanced vehicles; 3) Creating a National Low-Carbon Fuel Standard and; 4) putting 1 million plug-in cars on the road by 2015. In an important symbolic gesture, he plans to convert the entire White House fleet to plug-ins within one year. In order to accomplish these goals, the President-elect has proposed a $7,000 tax credit for advanced technology vehicles and providing $4 billion in retooled tax credits and loan guarantees to domestic automobile manufacturers, helping them to produce the low-carbon cars that will comply with these new standards.

Change the Executive Branch Administration, Legislative Regime Governing Climate and Energy

President-elect Obama is reportedly considering creating an Energy Security Counsel within the White House. That group would take the lead on encouraging energy-related research and development and championing new legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  Beyond the White House, the President-elect has indicated that he intends to reevaluate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) response to EPA v. Massachusetts, most likely with an eye towards classifying carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant and ordering the EPA to regulate it under the Clean Air Act. This would be a major departure from current policy, as articulated in the EPA’s July 11, 2008 advanced notice of proposed rulemaking regarding carbon dioxide. Moving outside of the executive branch, a largely Democratic Congress could partner with the Obama administration, or take the lead, on at least one other major Clean Air Act issue-reinstating the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR).  Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Air Quality, has said that passing legislation to reinstate CAIR-which had implemented an emissions trading system to reduce power plant emissions in 28 states and the District of Columbia until it was invalidated by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals-will be a top priority in the next Congress.

Installing Leadership at Key Environmental and Energy Positions

While staff planning for the coming administration is only just beginning, President-elect Obama has already staffed several key environmental and energy positions in his transition team. He chose David Hayes, Former Deputy Secretary for the Department of the Interior under President Clinton, to lead transition planning at the key energy and environmental agencies across the Interior, Energy and Agricultural Departments as well as the EPA. At the EPA level, the President-elect’s transition is headed by Robert Sussman, a former Latham and Watkins partner, Center for American Progress fellow and for Clinton official and Lisa Jackson. Lisa Jackson is the first African-American head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and a close advisor to New Jersey governor John Corzine. Speculation is circulating around a number of other potential candidates for head of the EPA, including: Howard Learner, a longtime Obama environmental adviser and the executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago; Mary Nichols, leader of the California Air Resources Board and appointee of Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; and former Pennsylvania environment secretary Kathleen McGinty.

For further information about this topic, please contact Akin Gump.