Climate and Energy Policy: New Report Identifies Climate-Friendly Energy Policy Options

7/24/2002

From: Katie Mandes of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 703-516-0606

WASHINGTON, July 24 -- As the national debates on energy and climate policies continue, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change today released a new report identifying a range of feasible near-term "climate-friendly" energy policy options that can satisfy traditional U.S. energy policy objectives while reducing future U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Designing a Climate-Friendly Energy Policy: Options for the Near Term examines a number of energy policy options that would advance U.S. energy policy goals during the upcoming decades while at the same time contributing to efforts to curb global warming. The report was written by Douglas W. Smith, Robert R. Nordhaus, Thomas C. Roberts, Shelley Fidler, Janet Anderson, Kyle Danish, and Richard Agnew of Van Ness Feldman, P.C., with Marc Chupka of the Brattle Group.

"As the findings in this report indicate, the notion that energy policy and climate policy objectives are necessarily at odds is simply a myth," said Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center. "Energy use and climate change are inextricably linked, so it makes sense for policy-makers to consider options that simultaneously advance the goals of energy policy and climate policy. Choices made in the current energy policy debate will directly impact U.S. greenhouse gas emissions far into the future. In addition, near-term energy policy decisions will affect the costs of implementing any future climate policy."

The report identifies chief U.S. energy policy objectives, including: (1) a secure, plentiful, diverse primary energy supply, (2) a robust, reliable infrastructure for energy conversion and delivery, (3) affordable and stable energy prices, and (4) environmentally sustainable energy production and use. Key elements of a climate-friendly energy policy include:

-- Increasing natural gas production and expanding natural gas transportation infrastructure; -- Developing and deploying renewable energy technologies and efficient electricity production technologies, without weakening Clean Air Act protections; -- Enhancing efficiency of automobiles and light trucks, industry, and buildings; and -- Research and development on non-fossil fuels and carbon sequestration.

The full text of the report is accessible on the Internet at http://www.pewclimate.org