As published in Politis Newspaper...
February 4 , 2007, pp.40

(English Text) [Ελληνικά]

Addressing Climate Change through Real Results

Op-Ed by By Ambassador Ronald L. Schlicher

When it comes to climate change, the United States and Europe have more in common than we sometimes realize. We share the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We share the goal of introducing new, cleaner technologies and alternative, cleaner-burning fuels. We share the goal of ensuring that our populations have a secure and consistent supply of energy to meet diverse needs. And we share the goal of reducing the impact of human activities on the global climate system.

But Europe and the United States are facing different contexts in which to achieve these climate goals. We have different economic and population growth rates, resources, and energy needs. There is no one correct path to achieve reductions in emissions, and each nation will achieve its climate goals in conjunction with overall objectives for energy security and economic growth. Yet we can and should expand our cooperation in achieving those goals.

Last week, President Bush announced an important new plan that will make a real difference in meeting the challenges of climate change, energy security, and sustainable development.

The President’s plan mixes mandatory measures, incentives, and voluntary programs. It relies on the new technologies that will allow for a future of both environmental stewardship and economic growth.

The President’s plan will reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent over the next decade. We call it “Twenty in Ten.” It will stop the projected growth of carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. cars and SUVs and will also reduce our dependence on oil that has left us vulnerable to hostile regimes and terrorists.

Two features of the plan jump out immediately. The first is the focus on road transportation, which is the second largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for over 22% of our emissions in 2004.

The second is that we are rapidly accelerating the deployment of renewable fuels. The United States is already the global leader in the production of biofuels. Under the President’s new plan, we will raise the existing mandatory fuels standard to require the use of 130 billion liters of renewable and alternative fuels by 2017 – nearly five times the 2012 target now in law.

The sources will be diverse. They will include ethanol from corn, plant waste, and wood chips, as well as biodiesel, methanol, and other alternative fuels.

This will have a real impact. The increase in renewable fuels will displace as much as 15 percent of projected annual gasoline use.

But we’re not stopping there in reducing our use of fossil fuels. By reforming and increasing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards for cars and extending an existing rule for light trucks, we expect to cut gasoline use by an additional 5 percent, or 32 billion liters.

These strengthened fuel efficiency standards will lead consumers to replace even more of the auto fleet with efficient new vehicles. This is how we get to a 20 percent reduction by 2017.

How will the plan affect the environment? Increasing the use of renewable fuels and mandating tougher standards could cut annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 10 percent, or around 175 million metric tons, by 2017. To put this into perspective, this would be like making 26 million automobiles emissions-free.

President Bush’s plan builds on a long record of action on global climate change that all too often goes overlooked.

In 2002, the President set an ambitious goal to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy by 18% by 2012. We have in place a diverse portfolio of policy measures, including dozens of mandatory, incentive-based and voluntary programs to meet this goal – and results to show for them. Our emissions performance since 2000 has been among the best in the developed world. According to International Energy Agency data, from 2000-2004, U.S. CO2 emissions increased by 1.7 percent. This was very modest growth, considering that during that time, our real GDP grew by 9.6 percent, and our population increased by 11.5 million people.

The public and private sectors in the United States have already invested more than 29 billion dollars in climate change and clean energy technology programs. We have made major progress on developing new, cleaner engines for automobiles, clean-coal technology to produce electricity, and more efficient wind, solar, and battery technology, just to name a few. These technological breakthroughs will enable us to achieve our climate goals in the context of a growing economy and a growing population.

In addition to taking action at home, the United States is collaborating with countries around the world to address climate change.

The United States has worked in partnership with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). It is one of our most important programs because it generates results where they matter most: in the countries that are the world’s major emitters of greenhouse gases.

We started the APP a year ago to bring together Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United States to tackle complementary energy, economic, and environmental goals. Those six countries account for about half of the world’s economic output, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. In each APP country, governments and the private sector have forged partnerships to develop and deploy clean, efficient energy technologies.

Emissions from developing countries – most prominently, China and India – are forecast to surpass emissions of developed countries by 2010. The APP includes China and India as equal partners, and anticipates their participation in most of its cooperative projects to address climate change and simultaneously promote economic development.

The United States is engaged in a variety of partnerships with other countries to promote development and deployment of new, cleaner technologies and to share expertise. These include partnerships to collect and reuse methane – a powerful greenhouse gas; to capture and safely store carbon dioxide; and to develop cost-effective hydrogen and fuel-cell technologies.

We already engage in these kinds of partnerships with EU countries. But we can go further. With our scientific capabilities and our economic resources we can do more to work together to find tangible, practical solutions to climate change. The United States is eager to work with European nations and other countries around the world to address this serious global challenge.