President Bush unveiled an aggressive initiative to cut power plant emissions and a new strategy for addressing global warming. This plan commits the US to reduce the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Intensity by 18% in the next ten years (GHG Intensity measures the ratio of GHG emissions to economic output). This new approach focuses on reducing the growth of GHG emissions, while sustaining the economic growth needed to finance investment in new and clean energy technologies.

The President's approach seeks to expand cooperation internationally to meet the challenge of climate change, for example, by dedicating significant funds to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The President's Fiscal Year 2003 (FY'03) budget requests $155 million in funding for USAID climate change programs. USAID serves as a critical vehicle for transferring American energy and sequestration technologies to developing countries to promote sustainable development and minimize their GHG emissions growth.

The President's FY '03 budget increases funding for America's commitment to climate change by seeking $4.5 billion in total climate spending. It is also proposed to provide tax incentives for renewable energy, cogeneration, and new technology. The President's FY '03 budget seeks $555 million in clean energy tax incentives in the US, as the first part of a $4.6 billion commitment over the next five years ($7.1 billion over the next 10 years). These tax credits will spur investments in renewable energy (solar, wind, and biomass), hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, cogeneration, and landfill gas conversion.

The new initiative sets America on a path to slow the growth of GHG emissions, and - as the science justifies - to stop and then reverse that growth. In efficiency terms, the 183 MT of emissions per million dollars GDP that the US emits today will be lowered to 151 MT per million dollars GDP in 2012. Existing trends and efforts in technology improvement will play a significant role. Beyond that, the President's commitment will achieve 100 million MT of reduced emissions in 2012 alone, with more than 500 million MT in cumulative reductions over the entire decade (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02)

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Governor Christine Whitman has outlined President Bush's initiatives on climate change at the Earth Technology Forum in Washington DC on 25 March, 2002. In her keynote speech, the Governor highlighted EPA's role in implementing climate protection programs in the US.

This conference (25-27 March) was sponsored by the International Climate Change Partnership (ICCP), and the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, in cooperation with the US EPA, US Department of Energy, USAID, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Development Program, Environment Canada, Industry Canada, Australian Greenhouse Office, Netherlands' Reduction Plan for the Non CO2 GHG, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, as well as over 80 international organizations and industry associations. Over 200 speakers addressed about 900 participants from 30 countries at this Forum.

Governor Whitman described the success of the EPA's Energy Star program in reducing GHG emissions. This comprehensive program encouraged businesses and consumers to voluntarily make choices that increased energy efficiency resulting in GHG emission reduction of 38 million MT of carbon equivalent.

EPA launched a new Climate Leaders program in February 2002, which included a large utility, Cinergy. These Climate Leaders will work with EPA to inventory their GHG emissions, set aggressive reduction goals, and report their progress each year. In addition, interested companies can report these reductions to a registry that will develop along with the Department of Energy, and get credit for emission reductions in the future. Cinergy, which owns nearly 21,000 MW of electricity generation capacity, for example, now believes that a prudent organization would take a long-term comprehensive approach to power plant emissions by including a climate change component. EPA is also interested in working with developing countries to identify practical solutions to climate change, develop common approaches for emissions measurement, and capacity building.

The US Senate has introduced several bills on climate change. These bills relate to the Clean Power Act, Emissions Reduction Incentives, Climate Change Tax, Carbon Sequestration, and the Global Climate Change Act. One of the plans considered the multi-pollutant concept, i.e., nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide. Another highlight of the Forum was discussions by the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee on ensuing US Legislation to address climate change. In this Forum, one of the Senate staff members appreciated the assistance of Winrock International in providing Testimony at the Hearings of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, on the measurement and benefits of carbon sequestration. In the Session entitled "Climate Change: Prevention and Impacts of Climate Change in Developing Countries," a presentation was made highlighting the success stories of USAID-India's Greenhouse Gas Pollution Prevention (GEP) project. It was noted that under the Alternative Bagasse Cogeneration (ABC) component, eight sugar mills have installed high-efficiency cogeneration units generating electricity utilizing bagasse, a sugar mill waste product. These sugar mills are generating excess electricity and exporting it to the grid, thereby off-setting the need to generate equivalent amount of electricity utilizing fossil fuels such as coal. These sugar mills are generating 500 million kWh of electricity using bagasse and other biomass fuels off-setting 550,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Because these sugar mills are located in rural areas, the cogeneration units essentially function as Distributed Generation plants, thereby offering the advantage of low transmission and distribution losses. Additionally, they provide several social benefits (e.g., rural employment). Although potential bagasse cogeneration capacity is about 5,000 MW in India, less than 300 MW has been commissioned so far under high efficiency operating conditions. USAID is assisting the sugar mill industry in India through information dissemination activities to promote cogeneration utilizing biomass fuels.

At the Forum, Swiss Re, a leading insurance company, presented that according to its estimates, total trading market in carbon emissions could be somewhere between US$ 75 and 145 billion annually, when the international climate change protocols are in place. The various presentations at the Forum illustrated that climate change activities would be transitioning from science to technology to Legislation in the near future. However, the market-based mechanisms would work cost-effectively only if cooperative efforts exist between developed countries and developing countries with respect to capacity building, technology transfer, and development and implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. The developing countries not only have to adopt clean energy technologies, but also have to establish acceptable emission reduction protocols, baselines for emission credits, and a national level registry for monitoring the performance levels, similar to those being established in the US.

President Bush and EPA Administrator Christie Whitman tout their emissions reduction initiative on Earth Day (Source: CNN, April 22, 2002)

"Addressing global climate change will require a sustained effort over many generations" President George W Bush.

A warming trend has been recorded for the earth's atmosphere since the late 19th century, with most rapid warming occurring over the past two decades.

US Database on GHG Reductions The Voluntary Reporting of the GHG program, required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, records the results of voluntary measures to reduce, avoid, or sequester GHG emissions. A total of 222 US companies and other organizations reported to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that, during 2000, they had undertaken 1,882 projects to reduce or sequester GHG. The direct project level reductions reported are about 187 million MT of carbon dioxide equivalent. A majority of the projects are in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution (about 125 organizations reported 976 projects). At the Earth Technology Forum Exhibition, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which is assisting the EIA in the development and maintenance of the US database for voluntary reporting of GHG, managed a booth highlighting recent data collection and corresponding methodologies. Courtesy: Dr Sai Gollakota Program Manager, SAIC, USA

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