Obama Energizes Governor Schwarzenegger’s Climate Change Summit
On Tuesday, November 18 global leaders met at the international climate change summit hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss strategies for cutting global emissions in advance of the December U.N. conference in Poznan, Poland. The delegates expected the biggest news of the first day would be an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation between US states and developing countries. But before the discussions fully commenced, President-elect Barack Obama greeted attendees with video message pledging “a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change.” Consistent with past statements, Obama promised a federal cap-and-trade system to “establish strong annual targets that set us on a course to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020 and reduce them an additional 80 percent by 2050.”
While Obama’s pledge did not break new ground, the message energized attendees by sending a clear signal that the U.S. will join the international community in making a real commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many believe Obama’s commitment sets a new tone for talks at the Poznan conference, where leaders hope to advance the negotiations over a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. While the President-elect has made it clear that he will not appear in Poznan, he declared that after he takes office, “you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in these negotiations.”
Governor Schwarzenegger closed the first day by signing a memorandum of understanding with the governors of Illinois and Wisconsin and six states and provinces of Indonesia and Brazil to reduce forestry-related greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement is the first state-to-state, sub-national agreement focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and land degradation programs. The agreement also calls for the parties to develop rules to ensure that forest-sector emission reductions and sequestrations are “real, measurable, verifiable and permanent,” so that they may be recognized by trading programs, such as those being developed by California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) and the Western Climate Initiative.
The summit concluded Wednesday, November 19 with 26 global leaders from six countries signing a cooperative declaration that focuses on the largest-emitting sectors (e.g. forestry, agriculture, cement, transportation, etc.), establishes workgroups by sector and sets forth a framework for negotiators to use when they meet in Poznan next month.
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In an effort to combat climate change and to lower greenhouse gasses, President elect Obama should make the Trans-Global Highway a major policy directive in his administration., The project was proposed by Frank X. Didik, who also happens to be the found of the Electric Car Society, a number of years ago. The Trans-Global Highway would physically link the continents of the world together utilizing existing roads, rail lines and through a series of under water tunnels. The Trans-Global Highway would clearly lower transportation costs as well as reduce the huge amount of energy needed to transport products globally . I also see the Trans Global highway as a method to increase international cooperation and better allocation of global resources, with minimal invasiveness of the environment, It may well be the key infrastructure project that Mr. Obama has been seeking. The full proposal can be read at http://www.TransGlobalHighway.com
Comment by David — December 2, 2008 @ 5:29 PM