Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS |
Friday, May 4, 2007 |
202-482-4883 |
Statement by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez on the United Nations Climate Change, Working Group III Final Report
WASHINGTON—Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez today released the following statement on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, Summary for Policy Makers for Working Group III: Mitigation of Climate Change.
“As President Bush and Chancellor Merkel indicated earlier this week at the U.S.–EU Summit, there is broad recognition amongst leaders from around the world that the issues surrounding greenhouse gas emissions and our climate require serious efforts on behalf of global governments and the private sector to find solutions to these common challenges.
“Today’s report verifies that there are no simple solutions and that we must continue to make long term investments in both climate science and in climate and energy technologies. These are long term challenges requiring long term investments.
“The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a key leader in expanding our knowledge of our changing climate and our changing world.
“I’m proud to lead a Department that is intrinsically involved in two key parts of the climate change issue—the cutting edge research at NOAA, and more broadly, promoting the economic growth necessary to invest in new technologies and sustainable development. We can’t address climate change without economic growth.
“As today’s report indicates, there are a wide range of economic forecasts for the impacts of mitigating climate change. We must ensure that economic growth goes hand in hand with increases in energy efficiency, the uptake of alternative and low carbon sources of energy, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
“The U.S. is on track to meet President Bush’s 2002 commitment to cut our nation’s greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent by 2012. U.S. greenhouse gas intensity—the amount emitted per unit of economic activity—declined by 2.0 percent in 2003 and by 2.5 percent in 2004.”