(US)Business and Environmental Leaders Release Landmark Blueprint for Climate Protection Legislation

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http://www.us-cap.org/pdf/USCAP-Blueprint-Release.pdf

For Immediate Release — January 15, 2009

Contact: Jim Luetkemeyer
[phone]
[e-mail]

Business and Environmental Leaders Release Landmark Blueprint for Climate Protection Legislation

Broad and Diverse Coalition Presents Consensus Approach on Major Climate Initiatives

Washington, D.C. (January 15, 2009) – The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) today unveiled a comprehensive and detailed set of integrated policy recommendations for developing legislation that would create an environmentally effective and economically sustainable national climate protection program.

The landmark document – titled A Blueprint for Legislative Action – echoes the sense of urgency that President-elect Obama has articulated regarding the need for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

Developed through two years of intensive analysis and consensus-building among 26 corporations and five environmental organizations, the Blueprint offers policymakers a clear path forward endorsed by a coalition representing a broad swath of the economy and diverse environmental interests.

"In the past, the U.S. has proven that we have the will, the capabilities and the courage to invest in innovation – even in difficult times," said Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE. "Today, cap-and-trade legislation is a crucial component in fueling the bold clean energy investments necessary to catapult the US again to preeminence in global energy and environmental policy, strengthen the country's international competitiveness, and create millions of rewarding new American jobs."

USCAP believes that strong climate legislation is a critical element of any effort to stimulate investment and innovation in low-carbon technologies. The Blueprint provides specific guidelines for the Administration and Congress to enact legislation that both protects the environment and facilitates the necessary transition to a vibrant, low-carbon economy. That includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent of 2005 levels by 2050 through an economy-wide cap-and-trade program.

“The health of our economy and the safety of our climate are inextricably linked, except nature doesn’t do bail-outs,” noted Jonathan Lash, President of the World Resources Institute. “USCAP has redefined what is possible. If the diverse membership of USCAP can find common ground, Congress can agree on effective legislation.”

USCAP noted that every year of delay in controlling emissions increases the risk of unavoidable consequences that could necessitate even steeper greenhouse gas reductions in the future, at substantially greater economic cost and social disruption.

The Blueprint details steps for creating a mandatory, economy-wide cap-and-trade program, coupled with cost containment measures and complementary policies addressing a federal technology research development and deployment program, coal technology, transportation, and building and energy efficiency.

Expanding significantly on USCAP’s 2007 groundbreaking Call for Action, the Blueprint includes an aggressive emission reduction schedule, further details on the scope of coverage for the cap-and-trade program, and recommendations for how to include as much of the U.S. economy under the cap as administratively and politically feasible.

Highlights from the Blueprint include:

• Requiring an 80 percent emissions reduction below 2005 levels by 2050: National climate legislation should include aggressive emission reduction targets that can be achieved at manageable costs to the economy. The targets and timetables in the Blueprint are consistent with the schedule proposed by President-elect Obama.
• Allowing the ample use of offsets to manage program costs: Offsets should be used to help meet compliance obligations and should be environmentally additional, verifiable, permanent, measurable, and enforceable. Other cost containment measures to limit price spikes and volatility are detailed in the Blueprint.
• Using the value of emissions allowances to protect consumers and businesses while advancing climate program goals: USCAP believes the distribution of allowance value should facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy for consumers and businesses, provide capital to support new low- and zero-GHG-emitting technologies, and address the need for humans and the environment to adapt to climate change. A significant portion of allowances should be initially distributed to capped entities and particularly disadvantaged economic sectors. The Blueprint identifies principles to guide the fair and equitable allocation of allowance value to mitigate costs to consumers and impacted sectors of the economy.
• Creating incentives for technology development and deployment: In addition to outlining the design and function of a cap-and-trade system, the Blueprint details complementary measures for coal, technology transformation, transportation, and buildings and energy efficiency that are needed to facilitate rapid technology transformation and to ensure that actual reductions in emissions occur across the economy. These measures are presented as necessary components of the cap-and-trade recommendations.

A summary overview of the Blueprint for Legislative Action as well as the full text of USCAP’s recommendations are available online at http://www.us-cap.org">www.us-cap.org.

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United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) is a group of businesses and leading environmental organizations that have come together to call on the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

USCAP Members:
Alcoa ● AIG ● Boston Scientific ● BP America ● Caterpillar ● Chrysler ● ConocoPhillips ● John Deere ● Dow ● Duke Energy ● DuPont ● Environmental Defense Fund ● Exelon ● Ford ● FPL Group ● GE ● GM ● Johnson & Johnson ● Marsh ● Natural Resources Defense Council ● The Nature Conservancy ● NRG Energy ● PepsiCo ● Pew Center On Global Climate Change ● PG&E ● PNM Resources ● Rio Tinto ● Shell ● Siemens ● World Resources Institute ● Xerox ●

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1. Companies lay out wishes for U.S. carbon law - looser limits than … Barack Obama has called for

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE50E69K20090115?sp=true

Companies lay out wishes for U.S. carbon law

Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:44pm EST

By Roberta Rampton and Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of large U.S. companies, including the troubled Big Three automakers, on Thursday offered Congress a blueprint for greenhouse gas regulation with looser limits than President-elect Barack Obama has called for.

…

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, a Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, called the proposal "self-serving" and said the government should not give away credits.

Some environmental groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and Environment America, said the blueprint was not tough enough.

The plan also features energy efficiency programs, more nuclear power, and investments in renewable energy and the "clean coal" technology opposed by many environmental groups.

…

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2. Business Coalition Cap-And-Trade Program Needs Strengthening, Science Group Says

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/business-coalition-0183.html

January 15, 2009

Business Coalition Cap-And-Trade Program Needs Strengthening, Science Group Says

Statement by Alden Meyer, Union of Concerned Scientists

WASHINGTON (January 15, 2008) – The United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a coalition of 32 corporations and environmental organizations, this morning announced a cap-and-trade proposal to reduce global warming pollution. (For the members of USCAP and more information, go to http://www.us-cap.org/ .)

Below is a statement by Alden Meyer, the director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"The companies that stepped forward today see the writing on the wall and know their businesses would do well to address global warming sooner rather than later. They are to be commended for calling for urgent action.

"Their proposed cap-and-trade program is a starting point, but it must be strengthened significantly to ensure that it's effective.

"The lower end of USCAP's 2020 emissions reduction range is inadequate. Cuts of 20 percent or more below today's levels are both needed and achievable.

"We support USCAP's proposal for a periodic review of the climate science. But we call on USCAP to join UCS and other groups to ensure that those reviews trigger needed adjustments in the cap-and-trade program.

"We are pleased that USCAP recognizes the need for the United States to help developing countries cut their emissions. But they should go further by actively supporting provisions in cap-and-trade legislation to allocate significant funds for programs that preserve tropical forests and deploy clean technology overseas, as well as to help the most vulnerable countries cope with the mounting impacts of climate change.

"We are concerned that USCAP is advocating giving away for free to polluters allowances potentially worth billions of dollars. We stand with President-elect Barack Obama in his call for 100 percent of the allowances to be auctioned. Giving away too many allowances for free would distort the market and could result in windfall profits for polluters.

"Last, but by no means least, we're troubled that USCAP's proposal to allow as much as 2 billion tons of offsets could allow U.S. companies to avoid cutting their emissions until about 2030. Offsets must be strictly limited to ensure that companies invest in the clean technologies that reduce global warming pollution here at home and that are essential to achieving much deeper reductions in U.S. emissions by mid-century."

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C.