G8 (with the US) takes on Climate Change

This morning, the G8 in Japan pledged to promote clean energy and carbon trading schemes to curb greenhouse gas emissions and recognized the importance of sustainable biofuel production.

In its statement on climate change, the G8 collectively stated that: "We promote clean energy, given its importance in tackling climate change and for the enhancement of energy security, by setting national goals and formulating action plans followed by appropriate monitoring," "Market mechanisms, such as emissions-trading within and between countries, tax incentives, performance-based regulation, fees or taxes and consumer labeling can provide pricing signals and have the potential to deliver economic incentives to the private sector," "We intend to promote such instruments in accordance with our national circumstances and share experience on the effectiveness of the different instruments." "We underscore the importance of sustainable biofuel production and use. The same should apply for the broader use of biomass for fuel, heat and electricity,"

When at the Department of Energy, I participated in the build up of U.S. policy in advance of these events. Interestingly, the US seems to have completely embraced the need for climate change policy agreement on a global scale... A historic policy shift. This forward motion will enable state-side activity to be more robust next year when climate change markets will be high on the Congressional agenda. vdevito@bowditch.com

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