Heating up the climate for change
by Fresh Energyby Carin Skoog, global warming solutions coordinator, Fresh Energy
Just as the piles of snow and chilly winter temps have arrived, policy discussions on climate legislation are heating up literally all over the globe. The international negotiations in Bali are host to 190 countries, all gathered to begin framing climate policy that matches the urgency of the IPCC’s recommendations. Here in the U.S., Congress is hot and heavy in discussions on both the energy bill and a bipartisan global warming bill sponsored by Senators Warner and Lieberman (America’s Climate Security Act) that would place a cap on emissions nation-wide. Even the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group is meeting this week and feeling the heat, with their February 1, 2008 deadline for approving recommendations to reduce Minnesota’s global warming pollution fast approaching.
And where is the business community, you might ask? Well, some prominent companies are standing right alongside the others, pressing for mandatory cuts in global warming pollution. The Financial Times just published an unprecedented statement, endorsed by 150 leaders from top global companies, stating that the scientific evidence for global warming is “overwhelming” and that a legally binding agreement will give businesses the confidence they need to make long term investments in low-carbon technologies. Mega-firms including Coca-Cola, General Electric, Shell, Nike, DuPont, and Johnson & Johnson have seen the writing on the wall, and are concerned about the unequal playing field established by varying regulations in different states and countries.
There has never been a time with such opportunity, at all levels of government, to make serious commitments to slow global warming. Voluntary measures are clearly not cutting it. The weather may be chilly, but the climate for tackling global warming is hot—and I’m hoping not to get any coal in my stocking this holiday season.
