07 May 2007
Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases Possible, U.S. Officials Say
United States sees efficiency, technology development as way forward
This is the third in a series of articles on the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Washington –Current low-cost, energy-efficient technologies are starting points for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, according to U.S. officials. At the same time, development of alternative energy technologies must be pursued vigorously.
“The most benefit obviously would come at the least cost … from energy efficiency improvement – things that are already in the marketplace,” U.S senior climate change negotiator Harlan Watson told journalists May 4 in a teleconference from Bangkok, Thailand.
“There are measures that are recommended that can come at relatively little economic cost and produce potentially significant economic and health benefit,” said Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality James Connaughton, who participated in the briefing. “There are other measures that come currently at an extremely high cost because of the lack of available technology,” he said.
Watson and Connaughton were responding to the third in a series of reports by the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). The “Summary for Policymakers,” the portion of the panel’s fourth assessment of climate change prepared by IPCC Working Group III, was reviewed and approved by more than 100 countries at the meeting in Bangkok.
Watson said the report highlights “the importance of deploying a portfolio of energy technology globally,” and is consistent with President Bush’s policy on climate change. Development of advanced nuclear and clean coal technologies is essential, he said.
The report reiterates findings of the first two IPCC working groups, that greenhouse gas emissions have grown significantly in the post-industrial era, most likely due to human activities. It outlines short- and long-term mitigation measures for the energy, transport, building, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste-management sectors.
It also states, “Changes in lifestyles and consumption patterns that emphasize resource conservation can contribute to developing a low-carbon economy that is equitable and sustainable.” Over the long term, development of key technologies and practices such as carbon capture and storage, advanced nuclear and renewable energies, higher efficiency biofuels and batteries, and energy efficient buildings might reduce harmful emissions greatly.
A “balanced portfolio of strategies for advancing technology” must take global economic realities into account, he stressed. It would be counterproductive to impose policies that would create job losses, unaffordable energy supplies or deep recessions, Connaughton said, adding, “Our goal is reducing emissions and growing economies.”
He said the developed world is responsible for the majority of emissions today, while the developing world, “the major emerging economies,” will “represent most of the growth of emissions in the coming decade or so, and it underscores the need for collective action.” The United States is “working very closely” with China and India, currently two of the world’s major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, in “a very constructive engagement,” Connaugton said.
Stephen Eule, director of the Department of State’s climate change technology program, said that since 2000 there has been a significant turnaround in climate change focus. Today, there is “worldwide understanding that we’ve got to solve the carbon capture and coal issue and we’ve got to solve it fast.” He said the “dramatic ramp up” in investment, scientific work and construction “is a sign of the seriousness of global engagement on this issue.”
Currently, the cost of carbon capture and storage – carbon sequestration -- is prohibitively high, Eule said. The goal at the Department of Energy, he said, is to make it affordable. He clarified that carbon sequestration is “very aggressive technology” in the development stage.
The climate change advanced energy initiative headed by the Department of Energy involves 10 U.S. government agencies and an annual investment of $3 billion. Seven regional carbon sequestration partnerships across the United States now are under way, with 20 pilot projects aimed at reducing coal-generated emissions. FutureGen is a $1 billion initiative to build a zero-emissions fossil fuel power plant, integrating sequestration and hydrogen production. Biofuel production is another high U.S. priority.
Nuclear energy is seen as vital in the race against climate change, the officials said. “If you, in fact, intend to be serious about climate change and reducing greenhouse gases, you have to be serious about the world’s use of zero-emission nuclear energy,” Connaughton said. “[W] e will perfect the technologies that allow us to recycle the spent fuel as much as we can and reuse it,” he said, adding the United States is “aggressively working on technologies that will make what is left relatively benign.”
Connaughton underscored the United States’ expenditures of about $1.7 billion on efficiency and renewable power technologies in 2007: “No country comes close in its assistance in this regard.”
The United States works within the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, and released its Fourth Climate Action Report for public comment May 4. The United States submits such reports periodically to the United Nations.
A transcript of remarks by the U.S. officials in Bangkok is available on the White House Web site.
The full text of the draft U.S. Fourth Climate Action Report is available on the State Department Web site.
More information on the IPCC is available on its Web site.
For additional information, see “U.S. Officials Praise Climate Change Report”and “Worldwide Impact from Climate Change Predicted.”
For more information on U.S. policies and programs, see Climate Change and Clean Energy.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
