US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

29 April 2009

The US administration has taken a step towards a low carbon future by acknowledging its role in causing rising global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Speaking at a climate change summit in the US, secretary of state Hillary Clinton told delegates from 17 of the world’s largest economies that they must work together to prevent global warming.

Ms Clinton responded to fears from developing economic superpowers that carbon dioxide emissions targets set by the western world would place a disproportionate burden on their shoulders.

“As I have told my counterparts from China and India, we want your economies to grow,” she said.

“We just hope we can work together in a way to avoid the mistakes that we made that have created a large part of the problem that we face today.”

However, Ms Clinton suggested that it will be harder for the developing world to raise its standard of living unless the challenge of climate change is first addressed.

Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa and Britain all sent diplomats to the US conference, which was also attended by members of the European Commission and the United Nations (UN).

The meeting was touted as an important stepping stone on the path to Copenhagen, where officials will meet in December for the UN’s annual climate change summit.

It is intended that world leaders will take the opportunity to explore new initiatives and joint ventures at the conference, with the aim of increasing clean energy supplies and cutting CO2 emissions.

Source: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/04/122240.htm

WASHINGTON (AFP) 1 April 2009 — The House of Representatives Tuesday received a draft

US representative Henry Waxman

bill for clean energy development that its authors claim would create millions of jobs and slash 2005 levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) breaks down into four sections dealing with renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency, global warming reduction, and a transition to a clean energy economy.

“This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution,” the draft bill’s co-sponsor, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, said in a statement.

“This legislation will create clean energy jobs that can?t be shipped overseas, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make America the global leader in energy technology,” Energy and Environment subcommittee chairman and co-sponsor Ed Markey said in a separate statement.

“We will create jobs by the millions, save money by the billions, and unleash energy investment by the trillions,” he said, adding that one of the aims of the measure was “protecting American consumers.”

The draft proposed legislation by the two Democrats lays out targets for reducing global warming that are even more ambitious than those promised by President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

Source: Google News

The U.S. EPA and other international government agencies have stated that carbon dioxide is a great danger to the health of the public in general and will be strictly regulated in the near future. A measuring, managing, and mitigating greenhouse gas emission places the foundation for future carbon emissions trading schemes within the United States. The European Union has worked on carbon emissions reductions as part of The Kyoto Protocol for a number of years. Later in 2009, the world leaders will meet again to hammer out details for the successor to The Kyoto Protocol. The U.S. under leadership form President Obama plan to be active participants.

Source: Daniel  Stouffer Originally published Mar. 2009