Hearing Of The Select Committee On Energy Independence And Global Warming- Roadmap To Copenhagen, Driving Towards Success
Statement
Hearing Of The Select Committee On Energy Independence And Global Warming- Roadmap To Copenhagen, Driving Towards Success
For those of you who spent any time in the water this summer, you may have
noticed it was warmer than usual. On the East Coast, typically chilly Maine beaches felt
more like those usually found in Maryland, which were in turn feeling more like Florida.
Worldwide ocean temperatures in July were the hottest recorded during the last 130
years.
While this might benefit your beach weekend now, it is the latest reminder of the
serious consequences of global warming. As the oceans warm and become more acidic
due to increasing absorption of carbon dioxide, coral reefs and other critical components
of the ocean ecosystem are put at risk, threatening food supplies for a significant portion
of the world.
Global warming is a global problem in need of a global solution. The next
opportunity to find that global solution is coming quickly. In December, the nations of
the world will gather in Copenhagen intent on finalizing an international climate
agreement that will protect people and the planet and unleash a clean energy revolution.
Todd Stern, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, is with us today to report
on the progress made thus far and the challenges that remain to reaching an agreement in
Copenhagen.
Since the start of the Select Committee, I have maintained that the most effective
way of advancing the negotiations of the next international climate change agreement
would be for the United States to show leadership by committing to mandatory domestic
reductions of heat-trapping pollution. In June, the House of Representatives took the first
step by passing the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act.
To the rest of the world, House passage of this bill signaled America's growing
commitment to preventing climate change and building a global clean energy economy. It
helped leaders at the G8 and the Major Economies Forum held in Italy this July reach
agreement on important points, including the need for emissions to peak as soon as
possible, commitments to prepare Low Carbon Growth Plans, and a pledge by
developing countries to take actions that would meaningfully reduce their emissions from
their current trajectories. I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues so that we
can send the strongest possible signal from the U.S. Congress to the negotiations in
Copenhagen.
Sending clean energy legislation that reduces global warming pollution to
President Obama is not just important for international diplomacy; it is critical to our
national interest. The great race of the 21st century will be to provide affordable clean
energy to the world.
Whether countries are trying to revitalize flagging economies or pull their people
out of poverty, they are turning to clean energy technology. In a race that the United
States once had a clear lead, we are now falling behind. The Europeans, Japanese, and
increasingly, Chinese are using their domestic policies to drive the development of clean
energy industries and stake their claims to the burgeoning global clean energy economy.
If we want to be globally competitive, we must do the same.
The U.S. effort to reverse this trend began with the 2007 energy bill's increase in
fuel economy standards and commitment to renewable fuels. It accelerated with the $80
billion investment in clean energy infrastructure and technologies in this year's Recovery
Act. It will culminate with a comprehensive clean energy law like the Waxman-Markey
legislation that passed the House this summer.
The world is watching in the United States. It is time to reclaim our technical
leadership on clean energy, our economic leadership in the next great global jobs race,
and our moral leadership to protect the planet. I am confident that this is the foundation
upon which a new global climate agreement -- one that includes all countries doing their
fair share -- will be built.
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