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US lawmakers present draft bill on 'clean energy'
Washington (AFP) March 31, 2009 The House of Representatives Tuesday received a draft bill for clean energy development that its authors claim would create millions of jobs and slash 2005 levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) breaks down into four sections dealing with renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency, global warming reduction, and a transition to a clean energy economy. "This legislation will create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution," the draft bill's co-sponsor, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, said in a statement. "This legislation will create clean energy jobs that can't be shipped overseas, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and make America the global leader in energy technology," Energy and Environment subcommittee chairman and co-sponsor Ed Markey said in a separate statement. "We will create jobs by the millions, save money by the billions, and unleash energy investment by the trillions," he said, adding that one of the aims of the measure was "protecting American consumers." The draft proposed legislation by the two Democrats lays out targets for reducing global warming that are even more ambitious than those promised by President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign. Using 2005 levels as a benchmark, it calls for a cut of three percent by 2012, 20 percent by 2020, 42 percent by 2030 and 83 percent by 2050. The draft bill would commit the US to an additional 10 percent reduction by funding forest protection programs in tropical countries with the proceeds from a carbon trading market. Obama called for slashing CO2 emissions by 2020 by 15 percent from 2005 levels. To reach the targets, the bill calls for a federal greenhouse gases emissions quota market to nudge polluters toward green energy alternatives. The measure, however, does not go into details, which will have to be thrashed out in upcoming debates. It calls for six percent of all electricty be provided by renewable energy sources (wind, sun, biomass) by 2012, increasing to 25 percent by 2025. In energy efficiency, it proposes tax incentives for families living in homes built before 1976 for purchasing new, energy efficient homes. On job creation and a transition to a clean energy economy, the clean energy act stresses training people in renewable energy technology by means of, for example, federal university grants. On the international level, the United States is "powerfully and fervently engaged" in talks to forge a global climate treaty by the end of the year, Obama's Special Envoy on climate Todd Stern said Sunday in Bonn, as the 11-day United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) forum got under way. The ACES committee said it will steer House debates on the clean energy bill from April 20 to May 11, with complete legislation for consideration by the full House by May 25. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Climate expert Stern urges G20 to forge 'green' recovery
London (AFP) March 30, 2009Leading climate change expert Nicholas Stern pressed G20 leaders Monday to grasp the opportunity to forge a green recovery from the economic slump. |
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