On February 14, 2002, President Bush announced a goal to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity—the ratio of emissions to economic output by American industry—by 18 percent over the next 10 years without sacrificing economic growth. Achieving this aim will require a combination of short-, medium-, and long-term actions. Initially, the Administration has adopted policies to encourage industry to take voluntary actions using available, cost-effective technologies and best practices to reduce GHG emissions intensity. These actions will put the nation on the path of slowing emissions growth. The Administration's plans also include a major joint effort by industry and government to develop advanced technologies and use them commercially across the economy to increase energy efficiency and reduce, avoid, or sequester GHG emissions.

Climate VISION—Voluntary Innovative Sector Initiatives: Opportunities Now—is a Presidential public-private partnership initiative launched by the Department of Energy on February 12, 2003, to contribute to the President's goal of reducing GHG intensity. Other agencies participating in Climate VISION include the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Agriculture.

Today, business associations and trade groups representing 14 energy-intensive industrial sectors and the Business Roundtable are Climate VISION partners. Each has made a commitment to contribute to meeting the President’s 18 percent intensity reduction goal by improving energy efficiency or greenhouse gas emissions intensity of its sector. These Climate VISION partners, which include some of the largest companies in America, represent a broad range of industry sectors: oil and gas production, transportation, and refining; electricity generation; coal and mineral production and mining; manufacturing (automobiles, cement, iron and steel, magnesium, aluminum, chemicals, and semiconductors); railroads; and forestry products.

Working with these trade associations and other groups, the program assists industry efforts to accelerate the transition to practices, improved processes, and energy technologies that are cost-effective, cleaner, more efficient, and more capable of reducing, capturing, or sequestering GHGs. Climate VISION links these objectives with technology development, commercialization, and commercial utilization activities supported by the private sector and the government.

The industry trade groups are implementing commitments in their letters of intent in support of the President's national goal with the support of agencies participating in the Climate VISION program. The adoption of advanced practices, processes, and technologies can reduce GHG emissions in a cost-effective manner, especially in energy-intensive industrial sectors. The program helps these groups and their members:

• Identify and implement solutions for reducing GHG emissions that are cost-effective today;
• Develop and utilize the tools to calculate, inventory, and report GHG emissions reduction, avoidance, and sequestration;
• Develop strategies to speed the development and commercial adoption of advanced technologies;
• Develop strategies across the commercial and residential sectors to help energy consumers reduce GHG emissions; and
• Recognize voluntary mitigation actions.

Participating industries are working in partnership with government Climate VISION experts to develop work plans that integrate GHG management into business plans and decisions. DOE and the other participating agencies provide a broad range of technical assistance, including plant-wide assessments, industrial assessment centers, standardization of software tools that identify opportunities for greater energy efficiency and consistency in calculating emissions, and training and information