Broad-based Coalition Outlines Principles for Effective and Efficient Climate Legislation, Calls on Nation to Support Obama
Today, a coalition of investor, low-income, faith, environmental, and other groups responded to President Obama’s call last week to repower America through market-based legislation to cap global warming pollution by releasing principles for effective, efficient, and equitable global warming legislation.
“Last week, President Obama offered a bold new vision for America –one that confronts global warming head-on, repowers the country with clean energy, reduces our dependence on oil, and recharges our economy,” said Environment America Federal Global Warming Program Director Emily Figdor. “This is our chance to get it right. As the president and Congress develop the details of their plan, we urge them to put science first.”
The coalition’s call to action includes the following principles:
- Establish science-based pollution reduction targets, including reducing U.S. emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, that are periodically updated as science evolves;
- Auction all pollution allowances and devote the proceeds to helping the nation shift to clean energy and addressing impacts on consumers, workers, vulnerable communities, and natural resources;
- Ensure strong rules for any carbon “offsets” so that our efforts to reduce pollution are effective.
“There is broad scientific agreement that a 2 degree Fahrenheit increase beyond the warming we’ve already seen would pose severe risks to natural systems and human health,” said Union of Concerned Scientists Climate Scientist Brenda Ekwurzel. To have a reasonable chance of avoiding that threshold and the worst effects of global warming, the United States must reduce global warming pollution 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and by at least 80 percent by 2050.
“We've already pumped so much carbon into the air that we're diminishing the ocean's ability to absorb any more," said Ekwurzel. "That means a larger proportion of each ton of carbon dioxide emitted today, compared to decades ago, will remain in the atmosphere to trap even more heat over the centuries.”
Because burning fossil fuels is responsible for more than 80 percent of total U.S. global warming emissions, we will need to dramatically change the way America uses and produces energy to sufficiently reduce emissions. In calling for market-based global warming legislation, President Obama explained: “[T]o truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy.”
“Even during challenging economic times, the clean energy solutions to global warming represent an enormous opportunity for America,” said Kristen Sheeran, program manager for Economics for Equity and the Environment Network. “Unleashing American ingenuity designing a clean energy future will create jobs, reduce our dependence on oil, and galvanize the made-in-America technologies that will be needed to accelerate emission reductions by nations around the world."
The groups also warned that “offsets,” where polluters are allowed to purchase credits for carbon reductions achieved or avoided by another party rather than directly cutting pollution themselves, have the potential to undermine both the environmental and economic benefits of global warming legislation. "Offsets can play a positive role in attaining carbon emissions reductions from sectors that are not covered by the cap. But offsets that are too low in quality or too great in quantity can delay critical structural reductions that must be made to speed our nation's economic recovery and the transition to a clean energy economy," explained David Hamilton, director of Sierra Club’s Global Warming & Energy Program.
Because low – and moderate-income households spend a larger share of their income on energy and other basic costs of living compared to wealthier households, the groups recommend that Congress designate a portion of the revenues from carbon trading to assist consumers’ transition to clean energy. “We must protect our most vulnerable communities – and particularly communities of color –from the physical, economic, and public health effects of global warming, while providing new pathways to prosperity,” said ACORN Deputy Director of National Operations Brian Kettenring.
Rev. Sally Bingham, of Interfaith Power and Light Campaign explained, “Communities from the Arctic to New Orleans to the slopes of Kilimanjaro are already suffering the impacts of global warming. As the country that has contributed the most to the problem, the United States has the moral responsibility to lead the way to a clean energy future and protect the ‘least among us.’ The United States is the country with the resources and the know how to make this happen. Our congregations are already showing that it can be done - saving energy in their facilities and installing solar on their rooftops.”
The 53 organizations endorsing the National Call to Action on Global Warming are building support for President Obama’s plan to tackle global warming by reaching out to groups and individuals across the country.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have said they are committed to developing legislation this year. "Washington must hear from all of us - clean energy entrepreneurs, from mayors and local officials, and most of all from parents and grandparents who are alarmed about their children's future,” said Mary Wilson, president/chair of League of Women Voters “We are eager to work with congressional leadership and the administration on this landmark legislation.”
The full list of endorsers includes: 1Sky, ACORN, Audubon, Catholic Healthcare West, Center for International Environmental Law, Ceres, Clean Water Action, Climate Law and Policy Project, Climate Protection Campaign, Climate Solutions, Defenders of Wildlife, Democracia USA, Earthjustice, Eco-Equity, Ecology Center, Energize America, Energy Action Coalition, Environment America, Environment and Energy Study Institute, Environment Northeast, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Green for All, Greenpeace, Health Professionals for Clean Air, Hip Hop Caucus, ICLEI USA, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Interfaith Power and Light, International Forum on Globalization, Kyoto USA, League of Conservation Voters, League of Women Voters, League of Young Voters, Massachusetts Climate Action Network, National Hispanic Environmental Council, National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, National Wildlife Federation, Oceana, Oxfam, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Progressive Future, Public Citizen, Religious Witness for the Earth, Rock the Vote, SEED Coalition, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Teleosis Institute, The Humane Society of the United States, The Student Public Interest Research Groups, The Wilderness Society, Union of Concerned Scientists
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