Proposed pollution caps in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) would result in reductions of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. This is less than the 17 percent reduction from 2005 levels that the previous Waxman-Markey Discussion Draft as released would have achieved, according to a new analysis released by the World Resources Institute.
Energy use is the largest driver of GHG emissions, primarily the burning of fossil fuels in the electricity generation, transportation, and industrial sectors.
The first meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate wrapped up here yesterday. The forum, convened by U.S. President Barack Obama, was attended by representatives of 17 major economies, the United Nations, and several developing countries.
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its mandatory greenhouse gas reporting regulation for public comment. The rule requires large emitters of greenhouse gases across the U.S. economy to monitor and report their emissions to the EPA.
U.S. legislators and business leaders will meet with experts on climate change economics and policy at the Capitol building March 3 to discuss the challenges and opportunities for U.S. leadership on climate change, it was announced today. U.S. and international policymakers will join climate experts for the one day bipartisan and bicameral event. The cosponsoring senators to date are Senators Bingaman (D-NM), McCain (R-AZ), Snowe (R-ME) and Stabenow (D-MI).
This week WRI posted its latest CO2 Emissions Inventory report, the latest report that documents the organization’s CO2 emissions and efforts to reduce them.
The World Resources Institute is now one of the first U.S.-based organizations to purchase Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) from the global compliance market established by the Kyoto Protocol.