Power plants subject to a regional cap-and-trade program in the northeastern U.S. known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 23 percent during the first three years of the program, the…
Tags: · cap-and-trade, Carbon Emissions, Greenhouse Gases, RGGI
The Center for American Progress Action Fund published an article this week highlighting the millions that energy and utility companies have spent lobbying Congress.
The article contends that this downpour of money into Washington — half of a billion dollars since 2008 — has been the key factor in stalling climate action by Congress.
The chart above shows that the top fossil fuel industries and electric power companies have spent heavily in Washington. What their lobbyists have been saying is not revealed in the dollar amounts, but CAPAF report outlines how most of these companies are on the record as opposing climate legislation, fees for carbon pollution and EPA regulation of greenhouse gases.
Tags: · cap-and-trade, Carbon Emissions, carbon pricing, climate action, climate action opponents, Congress, electric companies, lobbyists, oil and gas industry, politics, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington D.C.
More fossil fuel heartache or a clean energy future? That question on many minds as the the BP oil spill spirals out of control in the Gulf of Mexico.
And the answer is easy, according to a newly revised Greenpeace International report. It has concluded that moving aggressively toward clean energy would add jobs to the energy sector overall, make energy more affordable, not more costly, stop the pollution and insulate local communities from wild fuel price fluctuations.
Tags: · 95 percent clean energy by 2050, cap-and-trade, efficiency standards, electricity grid, Energy Revolution report, energy subsidies, European Renewable Energy Council, feed-in tariffs, geothermal power, Greenpeace International, renewables, Solar Power, Wind Power
(This excerpt from Lester R. Brown’s book, was released this week. Plan B 4.0 offers ways to mitigate or stop climate change. Brown is president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute, and also the founder of Worldwatch Institute.) By Lester R. Brown As economic decisionmakers—whether consumers, corporate planners, government policymakers, or investment bankers—we all [...]
Tags: · cap-and-trade, carbon tax, cost of coal, environmental taxes, fossil fuel costs, Lester R. Brown, OtherVoicesBlog, pollution taxes, tax shifting
Green Right Now Reports
As the Copenhagen climate talks moved into high gear on Tuesday, preparing for the heads of state to join the talks, the AP released a poll showing that more Americans believe action on climate change will help the U.S. economy than hinder it.
The Associated Press-Stanford University Poll found that 40 percent of Americans said that action to slow global warming would create jobs, and 46 percent said it would “boost the economy.”
Less than one-third of respondents felt that controlling climate change would hurt the economy.
Tags: · Americans view of climate action, AP-Standford Poll, cap-and-trade, climate action, climate change legistlation, Green jobs
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
So often politicians obscure their message with caveats, euphemisms and wonky references to elaborately named legislation.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) took the conversation a different direction yesterday when speaking to student activists assembled for an online teleconference Tuesday night sponsored by Consequence09.org.
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, cap-and-trade, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, controlling carbon emissions, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, pollution reduction, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Sen. John Kerry
From Green Right Now Reports:
A majority of Americans – about 75 percent – support regulating greenhouse gases from power plants, cars and manufacturing that would reduce global warming, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
But only a bare majority – 52 percent – support a cap-and-trade approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and 42 percent oppose such a program, which is the type of approach taken in the Waxman-Markey climate legislation expected to be voted on in the US House of Representations, possibly Friday.
Tags: · ABC News, Air Pollution, American Clean Energy and Security Act, cap-and-trade, Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, poll, Washington Post, Waxman-Markey
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
The first full day of hearings on that proposed law known as Waxman-Markey, which would promote clean energy, foster green jobs and set up a system to curb greenhouse gas emissions, began today, fittingly, on Earth Day.
But how do we make sense of this sweeping piece of legislation that affects everything from the air you breathe to the refrigerator you use? You could watch the hearings on C-Span over the next few weeks. (If you are unemployed, have all day long to plop in front of the tube and can remain alert for extended periods while people discuss abstractions like “carbon allowances” and “international offsets” this might be for you!)
Tags: · American Clean Energy and Security Act, cap-and-trade, Carbon sequestration, clean coal, clean energy, Climate Change, economy, Emissions, Fossil Fuels, global warming, Green jobs, petroleum, Waxman-Markey
By Laura Elizabeth May
Green Right Now
One
One degree Fahrenheit. On average, that’s how much the Earth’s temperature has increased over the past century, according to a report by the EPA. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that during the 21st century the global temperature will increase by 2-6° C.
Tags: · 350, 350.org, Barack Obama, cap-and-trade, Congress, EU, global temperatures, hurricane katrina, James Hansen, Polar Bears, Renewable Energy, science, sea ice, The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, Waxman-Markey, Wind energy
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Get ready for a new ad campaign pushing for a carbon cap. This one, though, 
comes not from policy wonks in D.C., but is a direct appeal from the steel belt. And it will yank at your heart strings.
The United Steelworkers and the Blue Green Alliance, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, have assembled four video spots featuring steel workers appealing for a carbon cap. Yes you heard that right.
Tags: · Blue Green Alliance, cap-and-trade, carbon cap, Climate Change, Congress, Environmental Defense Fund, Pew Center on Global Climate Change, steel workers, United Steelworkers
By Ken Miguel
KGO-San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — By 2011, California is expected to begin trading carbon credits on an open market. It is a potentially valuable commodity that even Congress wants a slice of. But what if they gave you cash instead?
Scientists increasingly say our planet is heating up largely because of carbon dioxide emissions.
Tags: · cap-and-trade, carbon credits, Ken Miguel, kgo, Peter Barnes, San Francisco, Working Assets
By Julie Bonnin
The U.S. energy policy may be in flux and economic uncertainty at an all time high but a “cap and trade” policy on greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. is likely to be a major initiative not long after the upcoming presidential election.
While emissions offset trading is active in Europe and Asia, and some voluntary trading has begun in the U.S., American energy corporations are anticipating tougher emission reduction regulations and a corresponding need for traders, lawyers and other business people to work within the system as it evolves.
Thus far no one’s come out with “Carbon Trading for Dummies.” But the University of Houston, through a joint program of the C. T. Bauer College of Business and UH Law Center, will offer what is thought to be the country’s first comprehensive carbon trading course in spring of 2009.
Tags: · cap-and-trade, carbon trading, Green jobs, University of Houston
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift