Mitigation of Climate Change: Policies and Their ImpactsMs. Judith Ayres, Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyTenth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, December 6-17, 2004 Buenos Aires, Argentina December 16, 2004 Thank you, Chairman. Our efforts to address climate change will take place over many decades. It is important that they be both practical and sustainable. We believe it is vital for our actions to be in harmony with broader efforts to achieve prosperity for all nations. To this end, the United States has established, and is committed to, a comprehensive program that seeks practical near-term reductions, while investing in the technologies that will enable us to achieve our objectives, over time. The U.S. has put into place a broad range of initiatives to achieve the President’s goal of reducing our nation’s greenhouse gas intensity 18% by 2012:
These are just some of the numerous voluntary, regulatory, and incentive-based programs initiated, to meet the President’s goal. We also support over $4 billion in energy tax incentives to promote greenhouse gas emission reductions. These include credits for the purchase of hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles, residential solar heating, electricity produced from alternative sources, and combined heat and power systems. Further, we are also partnering with other countries to promote cost-effective greenhouse gas reduction strategies:
These short-term efforts are a key component of the comprehensive long-term strategy to achieve deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions while still growing the world’s economy. In this respect, the roundtable on technology complements our discussion on mitigation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Released on December 17, 2004 |