Secretary's Speech

Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez
Keynote Address at the Department of Commerce Conference: “Powering Our Low Carbon Future”
Washington, D.C.

Thanks Woody (Sutton, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services). I appreciate the opportunity to speak today about this Administration’s commitment to the development of low-carbon energy technologies.

It is great to see such a strong interest in a very important issue that will drive America—and the world’s—future prosperity and growth.

In many ways this is a conference that’s about more than energy—it’s about finding new ways to increase American competitiveness and encourage innovation. By making meaningful progress toward a low-carbon future, we give our nation the power to grow. Instead of being constrained by access to energy, we can construct a future of unlimited potential.

Because the link between access to energy and economic growth is strong, it is appropriate that the Department of Commerce is your host today.

However, as with most matters economic and entrepreneurial, government has an important but limited role to play. That role is primarily to create an environment that encourages the private sector to innovate and drive growth.

In the clean energy sector Commerce promotes the deployment of low-carbon technologies and helps open markets for American clean energy companies.

We produce world-class climate science; and we develop standards for cutting-edge clean energy technology—advancements that are changing how we generate and use power to fuel our economy.

The worst thing we could do as we seek to improve our energy security and confront climate change, would be to undermine American economic growth or the global competitiveness of our nation.

Our economy is facing strong headwinds—the President is working with Congress on an economic stimulus. While this will help our economy in the short-term, it is through innovation that our economy will continue to grow.

The President believes that innovation—including the development of clean and efficient technologies—can help foster prosperity both here and around the world.

Some European leaders recently expressed concern that their emissions trading system could force manufacturers to relocate to areas outside of Europe—we don’t want to be in that same position.

We need to move away from the false choice that we can only have environmental protection or economic growth, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

In fact, we believe we can do both. We are developing policies that move us towards a clean energy future and advance our competitiveness by helping American manufacturers compete in the global market.

We know that commercial sector development and deployment of technology has worked in the past—there is no reason to believe it won’t be effective for the clean energy products we’re developing now.

Our economy has grown tremendously since the 1970’s while at the same time we’ve also combated air pollution. Over the past 30 years the U.S. economy created over 55 million net new jobs—more than Japan, Germany, the UK, France, and Italy combined. Yet we’ve also cut air pollution by 50 percent.

The U.S. has led the world in software, biotechnology and telecommunications—and we now have the opportunity to lead the world in the new frontier of clean energy technology.

Since early in his first term President Bush has made increasing American economic competitiveness, enhancing American energy security, and confronting global climate change top priorities.
In fact, since the beginning of the Administration the federal government has spent $37 billion on climate change related activities, including $18 billion on research, development and deployment of efficient energy and clean energy technologies.

Yet even with all the resources already being devoted to this cause, there is still more to be done.

In last year’s State of the Union, the President issued a bold “Twenty in Ten” vision to reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years. Congress responded to his challenge and he signed an energy bill in December. The bill:

• Requires fuel producers to use at least 36 billion gallons of biofuel in 2022, and
• Sets a national fuel economy standard of 35-miles per gallon by 2020.

These and other measures could reduce projected CO2 emissions by billions of metric tons.

The President has also committed an additional $2 billion over the next three years to create a new international clean energy technology fund. This will help spread the benefits of technology so that the world—particularly fast developing nations like India and China—can in a more efficient and effective way, generate the energy they need. This initiative will help leverage private sector capital investments to make clean energy projects more financially attractive.

At the first Major Economies Meeting, the President said that we need an international agreement by 2009 that will slow, stop and eventually reverse greenhouse gas emissions. He also said that the United States will be a leader in helping to develop the agreement.

This agreement must include detailed commitments from all major economies. Just as no country has a monopoly on good ideas, no country can get a free ride—we must all do our part.

This afternoon you’ll hear from Jim Connaugton from the Council on Environmental Quality. He’ll update you on the discussions that took place at the second Major Economies Meeting in Hawaii this week.

In this new era in sustainable low-carbon energy production, American innovation and American companies are leading the way. Venture capital investment in clean energy technology startups in the U.S. has surged.

Today it’s the fastest growing sector of venture capital investment in America. Last year, clean energy initiatives worldwide received $117 billion in investment—more than half of that funding happening here in the U.S.

These investments are having an impact throughout our economy. Today, clean energy provides approximately 8.5 million jobs in the United States—many of them high paying manufacturing jobs.

Your efforts will help our nation achieve more efficient, sustainable and reliable energy supplies. It will be a source of economic strength as we license the technology, manufacture the high-tech components, and operate the facilities that will provide the power to move a rapidly developing and energy-hungry world.

We can do well by doing good—making economic progress while making the world a cleaner place.

To meet growing global energy needs, an estimated $17 trillion will be spent in energy infrastructure over the next 25 years and the export opportunities for American energy technology will be tremendous. For example, in 2006, China added new electric generation capacity that was about the same size as the UK’s overall capacity.

These investments will increasingly be high-tech, low-carbon and far more efficient than the way power has been generated in the past. Clearly this is a booming economic sector—one that will provide some of the greatest opportunities of our time.

Mapping out strategies to change the way we generate energy is one of our most important priorities. With your leadership I have no doubt that we’ll find the way forward, transform the outlook for our environment and our economy, and turn the challenges of today into opportunities for growth tomorrow.