WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John Kerry spoke to 65 college and university presidents about the urgent need to address climate change today, and thanked them for their promise to make their campuses carbon neutral. Kerry was one of the keynote speakers this morning at the American College and University Presidents Leadership Summit.

Kerry said that Congress must take firm steps to address climate change during this week’s debate on a broad re-write of energy legislation. This week, Kerry will introduce amendments to fund research on reducing emissions from coal-burning power plants, and to mandate increased levels of renewable energy. Kerry has also introduced separate legislation to make the Capitol Complex – including the Capitol, House and Senate office buildings - carbon neutral by the year 2020.

The college and university presidents are meeting in Washington DC this week after signing the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. Over 280 presidents made this promise by recently signing on to eliminate their greenhouse gas emissions and integrate sustainability into their curriculum.  The group represents more than two million college students in 45 states, including the University of Massachusetts and over 30 colleges from the Bay State.

Below are his remarks, as prepared:

It’s great to be here with you.  I especially want to thank President Kathleen Schatzberg of Cape Cod Community College, President Jackie Jenkins-Scott of Wheelock College, President Robert Gee of The National Graduate School, President John Sbrega of Bristol Community College, and President Timothy Flanagan of Framingham State College.  Thanks for keeping Massachusetts at the forefront of making this a cleaner, greener country. 

You, as University Presidents across the country, are providing something that is sorely needed.  If and when Washington finally makes a serious effort to tackle climate change, it will be initiatives like yours that offered the spark and proved that it could be done. 

But it’s not just universities—entire sectors of the economy are transforming.  Major hotel chains like Hilton, Marriott, and Wyndham are encouraging the building of eco-friendly hotels.  Today just four US hotels are certified green – but fifteen times that many green hotels are under construction.  Earlier this year, the CEOs of ten major corporations including Alcoa, BP America, Dupont, and General Electric—all urged Congress to cap greenhouse gas emissions.  And Wal-Mart is replacing all its bulbs with green bulbs that burn longer and emit a fraction of the greenhouse gases. 

But there is something special about universities—they’re factories for leadership and symbols of our future aspiration.  To some extent, they are cities on a hill.

Now few would mistake Congress these days for a city on a hill, but we’re hoping to send the same message by turning the entire Capitol complex carbon by 2020.  These kinds of measures make an important but incremental contribution to energy conservation—but they also represent an important statement that we are living our values and an opportunity to educate people about the challenges we face.

As University leaders, one of your most important jobs is to educate citizens and foster the values of citizenship in your students—and I applaud all of you for recognizing that the environment belongs at the heart of that effort.

For years now, some in Washington have clung to any excuse or rationalization they could find—no matter how thin —to avoid confronting the imminent threat of climate change. 

We all know that until this country breaks its dependence on foreign oil, we will be undermining our efforts in the two greatest struggles we face:  the fight against global terror and the race to stop global warming.

And yet, when it comes time to pass the legislation that actually sets our country’s energy policy and research priorities on the right path, Washington has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.  

But this week’s energy bill is a chance for the new Democratic Congress to prove that we are serious about our campaign promise to deliver bold change to the American people. 

The energy bill the last Congress passed was a hollow exercise masquerading as a new direction while channeling the majority of the spoils to the same old special interests.  It was one ugly chapter in a decades-old story of procrastination, evasion, and – above all—failed leadership.  If Democrats write an energy bill indistinguishable from those that we criticized Republicans for passing, then we will not have earned our majority. 

So what will this Democratic Congress do to break with the past?    A serious energy bill must include three components: a major increase in efficiency, a dramatic new investment in renewable sources, and a comprehensive plan to develop and implement clean coal technologies. 

Efficiency:  Raising fuel efficiency standards is the cornerstone of our strategy to reduce our reliance on imported oil.  But since 1980, the share of oil that we import from overseas has jumped dramatically, while our average fuel efficiency remains mired at 25 miles per gallon. 

The current energy bill would increase fuel efficiency to 35 mpg by 2010.  We should remain vigilant against special-interest efforts to water down the requirements.   Congress must support the fuel-efficient vehicles of the future—many of which are being designed right now.  Today, A123 Systems in Massachusetts has developed the technology for a plug-in hybrid car that gets 150 miles per gallon.  Can you imagine if the average American’s daily commute – less than 30 miles roundtrip—required almost no fuel?

But energy efficiency doesn’t begin and end with automobiles.  Building green can make an enormous difference, too.  We should be raising energy efficiency standards across the board. 

Renewable Sources:  As of now, the energy bill offers no mandate for renewable energy sources like wind and solar.  That’s obviously unacceptable.  24 states and the District of Columbia have implemented local requirements that a certain percentage of energy come from renewable sources. 

I have proposed that 20% of our energy come from renewable sources by the year 2020, and I hope that the bill will be amended to match that standard. In the absence of Congressional leadership, states have taken the initiative—but a federal standard is better public policy, and we cannot let Republicans continue to block it. 

Clean Coal: Finally, we must make a dramatic investment in developing technologies to bring clean coal off the drawing board and under construction.  Coal is available, abundant, and cheap—but unfortunately it’s also a huge source of US greenhouse gas emissions.  If we stand a chance at addressing climate change, we cannot afford to expand on the 1.5 billion tons per year of carbon dioxide currently being emitted by coal-fired plants.  

While it’s not a magic bullet, clean coal technology could allow us to meet our energy needs without sabotaging our efforts to fight climate change.   Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen from pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million to 380 today—higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years.  Scientists now tell us that atmospheric carbon dioxide must remain below 450 parts per million—corresponding to an increase of 2 degrees Celsius—to avoid large-scale catastrophe.   If we fail to act, we’re expected to reach 600-700 parts per million by 2100. 

Carbon capture and sequestration technologies that remove greenhouse gases from burning coal are immensely promising, but—like many green technologies—they have not been tested on a scale commensurate to the problem.  I will be introducing an amendment that provides $1 billion for clean coal research. 

Those are the critical steps that Congress—and especially Democrats—ought to have the courage to take.  And if Congress fails to be bold, we ought to have the courage to vote the bill down.

And it’s time for Democrats do something that my party has not always done as boldly as we should have: stand up to Big Oil.  This Democratic Congress wasn’t elected to be the party of Big Oil, only a little less obviously.   With oil companies making $255 billion in profits since the start of 2005, we must roll back subsidies for big oil.  I have a bill that does just that, saving taxpayers over $20 billion dollars.  

This is about priorities.  Whether it’s through the ferocity of our fight or the weakness of our willpower, this will be the challenge that defines us.  And the American people should accept nothing less from this Democratic Congress than a bold vision for a cleaner and greener America.  

I want to thank you for what you’re doing to educate a generation of environmentally conscious citizens on green campuses.  And I want you to know that I will work in Congress to make sure that our work there is worthy of your efforts.  

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