May 13, 2008 5:34 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | ClimateIntel | Comments (0) |
Turning his attention to the climate regulation debate, John McCain presented his strategy for confronting global climate change. McCain’s plan:
May 9, 2008 4:36 PM in GHG Regulation • International Law and Policy • US Law and Policy | ClimateIntel | Comments (0) |
Paul Gutermann and Kenneth Markowitz presented at Carbon Expo 2008 in Cologne, Germany. Mr. Gutermann discussed the ongoing battle in the United States between state and federal authorities over climate change initiatives. Mr. Markowitz presented on the challenges associated with ensuring compliance across market-based systems.
Mr. Gutermann’s presentation explored how states like California and the members of regional initiatives in New England, the West, and the Midwest run the risk of conflicting with federal programs or entering areas of exclusive federal power. Regional cap and trade programs are most susceptible to challenges under the Commerce, Compacts, and Supremacy Clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
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May 8, 2008 4:41 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | ClimateIntel | Comments (0) |
In a recently released “Dear Colleague” letter, Senator Corker (R-TN) questioned the number of carbon credits that would be auctioned under the Lieberman-Warner climate bill (S. 2191), which is scheduled to be debated in the Senate in early June.
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May 6, 2008 4:33 PM in GHG Regulation • Sectors • US Law and Policy | Joyce Wong Kup | Comments (0) | Tags: Aviation |
Adding to the evolving debate on how and whether the US should regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from aircraft, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to seek public comment on two petitions urging the Agency to curb aviation emissions, during recent testimony to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.
The two petitions - one by a group of states including California and the other by a coalition of environmental groups - urge EPA to (1) determine that aircraft emissions cause or contribute to air pollution and endanger public health and (2) adopt regulations to control such emissions.
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May 1, 2008 8:09 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | Ken Markowitz & Jeremy Schiffer | Comments (0) |
While Lieberman-Warner has garnered most of the headlines since late last year, other climate change bills continue to appear in Congress, illustrating the difficulties ahead for forging a consensus on carbon legislation.
Senator Voinovich (R-OH) recently drafted, but has not formally introduced, the “Incentives-Based Climate Policy Act” as an alternative way of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Voinovich proposal calls for more modest reduction targets than Lieberman-Warner, with a goal of reducing emissions to - but not below - 2006 levels by 2020 and 1990 levels by 2030.
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April 24, 2008 5:50 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | Jeremy Schiffer | Comments (0) |
Senators and witnesses debated the potential economic impacts of adopting a cap-and-trade program in the United States. Billed as the “Tax Aspects of a Cap-and-Trade System,” today’s hearing before the Senate Finance Committee ended up being a discussion of the broad impacts that a cap-and-trade program would have on the US economy and on consumers.
A summary of the testimony follows:
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April 23, 2008 8:18 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | Jeremy Schiffer | Comments (0) | Tags: avoided deforestation, forests |
During yesterday’s hearing on International Deforestation and Climate Change, Senator John Kerry committed to ensuring that any future domestic cap-and-trade program will accept credits from international forest projects.
Stuart Eizenstat, the former U.S. Ambassador to the EU and leader of the US delegation in the negotiations of the Kyoto Protocol, argued for the importance of “starting with domestic legislation” in the fight against tropical deforestation. Senator Kerry responded that he would “add a marker” to any domestic climate change legislation, including the Lieberman-Warner bill, to ensure that credits derived from forest projects in other countries can be used to offset emissions in the United States.
The Lieberman-Warner bill, in its current form, would allow regulated industries to meet up to 15% of their emissions requirements by purchasing credits from carbon offset projects. Including international projects in the 15% offset quota would significantly boost efforts to avoid tropical deforestation. Emissions trading systems established under the Kyoto Protocol, including the European Union Emissions Trading System, do not allow the use of credits derived from most types of forestry projects. As a result, US leadership on this issue would help to create a robust market for credits from “avoided deforestation” projects [subscription req.].
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April 18, 2008 8:53 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | ClimateIntel | Comments (0) |
President Bush’s speech announcing a new national goal to stop the growth in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 received mixed reactions from U.S. Congressional leaders. The quotes below provide excerpts of international reactions to the President’s announcement.
Andrej Kranjc, Slovenian Undersecretary For Environment And Spatial Planning, Speaking For EU: “We expected more from the American president’s statement … The goal needs to be more ambitious. … We hope for improvement in the target announced yesterday.” (Francois de Beaupuy and Alex Morales, “EU `Expected More’ From U.S. on Climate, Slovenia’s Kranjc Says,” Bloomberg News, 4/18/08)
German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel: “[Bush is] lagging hopelessly behind the problems with his proposals … [his speech] does not do justice to the global challenge. His speech follows the motto: ‘losership instead of leadership,’ … We are glad that there are other voices in the U.S.A.” (”US official says German minister’s criticism of Bush climate speech unwarranted,” The Associated Press, 4/18/08)
Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary Of The U.N. Framework Convention On Climate Change: “It’s not clear how the Bush plan would fit in with the goals set out by scientists … But for now, it’s good there is a proposal on the table from the U.S. Let’s see where this goes.” (Leila Abboud, “U.S. Climate Plan Is Panned,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/18/08)
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April 16, 2008 3:04 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | ClimateIntel | Comments (0) |
In remarks delivered this afternoon, President Bush announced a new intermediate national goal for stopping the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The goal would be accomplished by encouraging technological innovation with “long-lasting” “technology-neutral” and “carbon-weighted” incentives for the most promising low-emissions energy technologies. The President further emphasized the role for innovation in second generation fuels and focused on solutions including nuclear and clean coal to ensure that power sector greenhouse gas emissions peak within 10 to 15 years.
The President recognized the need for a coordinated regulatory approach to managing greenhouse gas emissions, arguing that the major federal environmental laws (e.g., the Clean Air Act) were not designed to regulate global climate change. The President called on Congress, in its climate debates scheduled for later this year, to take an approach to regulation that sets “realistic goals for reducing emissions consistent with advances in technology,” promotes “more emission-free nuclear power,” “encourages the investments necessary to produce electricity from coal without releasing carbon into the air,” and ensures that “all major economies are bound to take action and to work cooperatively with our partners for a fair and effective international climate agreement.”
Citing this week’s Major Economies Meeting in Paris, the President called for the “meaningful participation of every major economy” in any future climate agreement, and proposed that countries set individual national goals in the context of an “environmentally effective, economically sustainable” global treaty.
Reactions to the President’s Announcement:
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April 11, 2008 2:43 PM in GHG Regulation • US Law and Policy | Paul Gutermann & Jeremy Schiffer | Comments (0) |
The Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a group of seven states and two Canadian provinces, recently released draft recommendations regarding how emissions allowances should be allocated under their regional cap-and-trade program.
The WCI members will issue allowances through a single pool to regulated industries. The Draft Allocations Design Recommendations calls for an initial minimum auction of 25% to 75% of the allowances and provides for the percentage auctioned to increase over time. For the remaining allowances, the member state or province may place them up for auction, allocate free allowances, bank them within a given (three-year) compliance period, or retire them outright.
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