President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)
Adopt GHG cap-and-trade system including India & China
Q: On Global warming. Many in China will say, “You in the US had your chance. You became this great industrial democracy. That’s what we’re going through now, and you want to clamp these standards on us. Don’t do that to us.”
A:
I’ve actually changed my view on this a little bit. Because even though Al Gore and I did help to develop the Kyoto Protocol, and I strongly supported it, I said at the time I thought India and China should be a part of it at a more graduated level.
I still think they should do it, and they should do it for themselves. If you develop in the old-fashioned way, there are enormous costs [from air pollution, water pollution, and so on]. And while I believe that
America should go on and adopt a cap and trade system and join with the Europeans and Japanese--because I think it’s a big economic boon to America--I think that if we don’t get the Chinese and the Indians in the system, we can’t stop global warming.
Climate change is existential threat to civilization
The problem of climate change presents an existential threat to the future of civilization. The scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by man-made activities is overwhelming.
The only debate is over how soon really bad things will happen and how bad they will be.
Most man-made CO2 emissions come from burning oil and coal.
Most methane emissions caused by humans come from landfills and agriculture, though increasingly methane is being released from long-frozen tundra as a result of global warming.
So far, our nation has refused to take serious action on climate change.
Amory Lovins is almost certainly the most important clean-energy social entrepreneur of our time. In 1977, as the new attorney general of Arkansas, I asked him to give testimony in opposition to the new construction of a large nuclear power plant that
would require a substantial increase in consumer utility bills.
Lovins argued that, over a period of decades, America could wean itself off fossil fuel completely and do so not by curtailing economic growth but in a way that would increase it.
Lovins helped me argue that Arkansas could meet its future energy needs through greater efficiency at far less cost than the proposed nuclear plant entailed.
The conversational, commonsense crowd thought we were both nuts, but I knew he made a lot of
sense and understood the details of how energy could be used and consumed better than those who dismissed us.
We lost the battle--Amory has lost a lot of them over the years--but finally he may be winning the war for a clean, progressive energy future.
Clinton signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming, ostensibly committing the United States to a draconian program of energy reduction while leaving huge nations such as
China and India exempt. He also signed the 1992 Biodiversity Treaty, which threatens American innovations in agriculture and pharmaceuticals.
Source: The Final Days, by Barbara Olson, p. 84
, Oct 25, 2001
Climate change: more biomass, more efficiency
[The Clinton Administration has taken] action on Climate Change:
Successfully negotiated the Kyoto Protocol, which sets strong, realistic targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and establishes flexible, market-based mechanisms to achieve
them as cost-effectively as possible.
Extended the tax credits for wind and biomass energy production through 2001.
Set a goal of tripling our use of bioenergy and bioproducts by 2010.
Increased research funding to more than $1.7 billion in
FY 2000 to provide a sound scientific understanding of both the human and natural forces that influence the Earth’s climate system.
Issued new energy efficiency standards for home appliances that will save consumers money and reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases.
Directed federal agencies to reduce energy use in buildings 35 percent by 2010, reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars off the road and saving taxpayers over $750 million a year.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov web site
, Apr 1, 2000
Need binding treaties on global warming
As we move forward, there is still much we need to do to make new progress-in restoring the Everglades, rebuilding the facilities at our national parks, seeking a
binding international agreement to reduce the kind of air pollution that leads to global warming, and eliminating the toxic waste dumps from one end of this country to the other.
Source: Between Hope and History, by Bill Clinton, p.109-110
, Jan 1, 1996
Supports tradable emissions permits for greenhouse gases.
Clinton adopted the manifesto, "A New Agenda for the New Decade":
Modernize Environmental Policies National environmental policies, mostly developed in the 1970s, have been remarkably successful in improving the quality of our air and water. But we face a new set of environmental challenges for which the old strategy of centralized, command-and-control regulation is no longer effective.
The old regime of prohibitions and fines levied on polluters is not well equipped to tackle problems such as climate change, contamination of water from such sources as farm and suburban runoff, loss of open lands, and sprawl. Without relaxing our determination to maintain and enforce mandatory national standards for environmental quality, it is time to create more effective, efficient, and flexible ways of achieving those standards.
For example, a system of tradable emissions permits would give factories, power plants, and other sources of air pollution and greenhouse gases a powerful incentive not only to meet but to exceed environmental standards. Decisions about solving local environmental problems should be shifted from Washington to communities, without weakening national standards. Finally, to empower citizens and communities to make sound decisions, government should invest in improving the quality and availability of information about environmental conditions.
Goals for 2010
Create a domestic emissions trading system to reduce greenhouse gases by 10 percent.
Promote innovative agreements for community and regional partnerships to achieve national environmental goals and standards through local strategies.
End government subsidies for sprawl.
Source: The Hyde Park Declaration 00-DLC10 on Aug 1, 2000
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