Climate Change week in review

Cap and trade inventor doubts approach 

The man who came up with the cap-and-trade concept decades ago doubts the system will be effective when it comes to reducing carbon dioxide. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Thomas Crocker, who came up with the idea while he was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin in the 1960s, doesn’t think cap and trade  can work to curb greenhouse gasses. 

From WSJ: "I'm skeptical that cap-and-trade is the most effective way to go about regulating carbon," says Mr. Crocker, 73 years old, a retired economist in Centennial, Wyo. He says he prefers an outright tax on emissions because it would be easier to enforce and provide needed flexibility to deal with the problem.

Crocker and another economist, John Dales, came up with the theory behind the cap and trade approach. In the 1970s, economist David Montgomery took their theories and applied mathematical formulas to show that they could work. The approach was employed successfully in 1990 to reduce acid rain, but critics point out there are vast differences between cutting the pollution that causes acid rain and reducing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Montgomery also doubts cap and trade can succeed, and says a direct tax on carbon is preferable.

Climate change poses security risk

If advocates to address climate change were looking for more ammunition for their argument, they found it in a front-page article in the New York Times last Sunday. The Times reported that military and intelligence analysts fear that climate change will pose a serious security risk to the U.S. As changing weather patterns bring severe storms, droughts, famines and coastal flooding, there will be more humanitarian crises that the U.S. will need to respond to. A report from the National Intelligence Council says, “The demands of these potential humanitarian responses may significantly tax U.S. military transportation and support force structures, resulting in a strained readiness posture and decreased strategic depth for combat operations.”

Citizens Climate Lobby volunteer Holly Foster seized the opportunity in the Times' report to respond with a letter to the editor, which was published in the Times on Friday.

From Holly's letter: While a bill to curb global warming has already passed the House, it sets up a complex system that could take time to put into effect. Representative John B. Larson and Representative Bob Inglis both have carbon tax bills that would be simple to enforce and could, if passed, be acted on right away.

Democrats getting cold feet on climate bill

Add Blanche Lincoln to the list of Democrats who say Congress should put off passage of a cap and trade bill until next year. Bloomberg News reports the Arkansas senator saying that a portion of the bill dealing with renewable energy could be passed, but not the cap and trade provision to reduce carbon emissions.

From Bloomberg: “The problem of doing both of them together is that it becomes too big of a lift,” Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas said in an interview last week. “I see the cap-and-trade being a real problem.”...Ben Nelson of Nebraska and North Dakota Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan joined Lincoln in suggesting that the climate measure be put off.

Without the support of these four, Democrats would lack the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster and bring the climate bill to the floor for a vote.

India and China weigh in on climate change

While it claims to be taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, India said Friday it would steadfastly oppose any trade barriers imposed on countries that don't accept limits on carbon emissions. The Associated Press quoted Shyam Saran, India's delegate at climate treaty talks in Bonn, Germany, as saying such measures were "protectionism under a green label." The comments were aimed directly at the United States, which included such tariffs in the American Clean Energy and Security Act recently passed in the House. President Obama has said he wants the provision removed from the final bill.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that China is showing hopeful signs it intends to address concerns about its contribution to global warming. Though there was no mention of specific emissions cuts, the Xinhua news agency summed up a cabinet meeting by saying that China will "Make objectives for controlling greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change an important basis for setting the medium and long-term development strategies and plans of government at every level," the Xinhua news agency said in a summary of the cabinet meeting.

From Reuters: Now widely considered to be the world's top annual emitter of greenhouse gases, Beijing has long argued that development comes first when there are still tens of millions living in poverty. But China's leaders are increasingly worried about the risks rising temperatures pose for a densely-populated country with limited natural resources. They also want to exploit a boom in clean technology and to be seen as a constructive player.

Winemakers want to cork global warming

Count on the French to be one of the loudest voices calling for a strong climate change agreement in Copenhagen. The reason: Global warming threatens to devastate France's cherished wine industry. The New York Times reports that a group of 50 winemakers, sommeliers and chefs wrote a piece in Le Monde this week addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy: “Changes in the climate are leaving our vineyards increasingly vulnerable. Summer heat waves, recent hail storms in the Bordeaux region, new diseases coming from the south — these disturbances will soon be much more serious.”