The many facets of climate change and carbon management

A recent piece from the London Guardian outlines a number of action items for President Obama in efforts to curb climate change.

I was particularly struck by this passage:

The president must also instruct his cabinet to clarify the impact of global climate change on each of their respective portfolios. Global warming has been crammed into a "green" box for the sake of political expediency. Instead, it must be appreciated for its cross-cutting immensity — it is fundamental to national security, global commerce, economic recovery, energy security, public health and safety, agricultural policy, land-use planning, and environmental protection.

This sentiment meshes well with our 12 legislative climate principles, which call for federal carbon management legislation that preserves the reliability of electricity generation, transmission and distribution system; promotes energy security and reliability; and maintains America’s competitiveness in a global economy.

We believe this can be done, in part, through clean coal technologies—including the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, a belief shared by the UK’s former prime minister, Tony Blair and The Climate Group. In their June 2008 report, they concluded that carbon capture and storage was “a critical and urgent priority” and that “it will be very challenging, if not impossible, to hit significant abatement targets without CCS.”

As we’ve said before, striking a balance between reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting America’s energy security and holding down energy costs for consumers will require hard work. But we believe it can be done, and that President Obama, his team and the 111th Congress will work together to shape legislation that accomplishes these very goals. We look forward to being part of the process.