Before a number of administration officials head to Copenhagen for the international climate talks, Congress will hold a number of hearings this week associated with climate change. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on policy options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the House, the Agriculture Committee will hold two hearings this week. The committee will begin with a hearing tomorrow on the economic effects of climate change. On Thursday, the committee will then look into the cost benefit analysis of offsets on the agriculture industry.
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Last week, President Obama announced that he will be attending the international climate change talks in Copenhagen on December 9. The talks, set to begin on December 7 and continue to December 18, will also see many key members of the Obama administration in attendance. President Obama also unveiled a short term emissions target of “in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels” for 2020. Many key lawmakers and CEO’s support the President’s announcement.
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The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership (BSCSP) will hold its annual meeting on October 28-29 in Spokane, Washington. BSCSP is a regional carbon sequestration partnership that consists of six states: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, South Dakota, Washington and Oregon. The partnership is also a part of the Department of Energy’s carbon sequestration program. Among BSCSP’s research initiatives are experiments to demonstrate and validate storing CO2 in geological formations and terrestrial systems. The partnership also focuses on the economic impacts, regulatory frameworks, infrastructure and monitoring of carbon capture and storage (CCS). This year’s meeting will include discussions on policy, technology, economic and other national and global issues concerning the deployment of CCS technology. Another hot topic on this year’s agenda is the exploration of strategies to reduce CO 2 emissions in the wake of increasing global energy demand.
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At its July 7-9 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan, the Group of Eight countries released a statement in which member nations stated their intention to cut their GHG emissions in half by 2050. The statement acknowledges that "major developing economies" (i.e., China and India) will likely not take the same steps as the G8 members, but stresses that all the major emitters will need to commit to "meaningful mitigation actions" pursuant to an international agreement to be negotiated by the end of 2009.
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Geir Vollsaeter, Special Policy Advisor, recently concluded his participation in the Technology and Finance in Climate Cooperation (CC8) meeting, in preparation for the next global summit on Climate Change. This exclusive meeting started on June 5, and concluded on June 6, in Oslo, Norway.
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This week in Pittsburgh, anyone and everyone in the carbon capture and storage world have convened to discuss where exactly the technology is and where it needs to be. The conference is being sponsored by the likes of Shell, BP, Alstom, Blue Source, GE and Peabody, among others. Yesterday at the conference, Lori Perine from Alstom predicted that CCS technology will be ready for commercial deployment sometime between 2015 and 2020. Also noteworthy, a common theme among the companies sponsoring the event was the need for federal support as the industry can't get it done all alone. They argue that they need help through incentives and also in establishing the liability and regulatory framework.
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This afternoon President Bush will give a speech outlining goals for reducing greeenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The speech will not outline any planned legislative proposal. White House spokeswoman Kristin Hellmer said that Bush will identifiy intermediate goals for reducing greeenhouse gas emissions as well as identify incentives for promoting cleaner technologies. The speech may also address the EPA's pending response to the year old court decision of Massachusetts v EPA. While it is known the President believes the Lieberman-Warner bill would have a negative effect on our economy, he is expected to address the pending legislation in his speech as well.
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February 25, 2008 3:15 PM | Posted by CCCM Team | Topic(s): Events
On February 11th Lee DeHihns addressed the ABA House of Delegates in Los Angeles regarding proposed ABA Resolution 109 on climate change. DeHihns emphasized the importance of the ABA taking a stand on climate change. He stated that the resolution, which deals with sustainable development, rule of law and protection of the oceans is, “entirely consistent with prior ABA policy and must be approved.” The resolution was later adopted by the ABA.
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January 4, 2008 1:28 PM | Posted by CCCM Team | Topic(s): Events
As part of its review of its environmental marketing guidelines (the "Green Guides"), the Federal Trade Commission will host a public workshop on carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates (RECs) on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at the agency’s satellite building in Washington, DC. At the workshop, FTC staff will explore advertising claims as well as issues of consumer perception, substantiation, and self-regulation. A webcast will be provided for those unable to attend in person; for more information visit http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/carbonoffsets/index.shtml.
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At this week’s Energy and Climate Forum at the University of Wyoming, clean-coal investors discussed their reluctance in building new pulverized coal-fired power plants due to the potential cost implications associated with retrofitting them at a later date to meet pending regulation relating to carbon capture and sequestration. While investors see big advantages of coal gasification, they are afraid to spend the money until legal and regulatory issues surrounding carbon sequestration are resolved, whether by states, the federal government, or some combination of the two. Kipp Coddington, a partner in Alston & Bird’s Washington, D.C. office and speaker at the forum, said "it’s dangerous to assume that all of the infrastructure, the liability and other legal and regulatory questions regarding carbon capture and sequestration will simply fall into place…It’s a double-edged sword. People are in favor of it. But until clarity is provided, there are substantial hurdles."
Read more about the event.
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