US movements
The sea-change in US politics last November with the Democrats taking a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate may now be having an effect on climate change policy. The FT reports that many Democrat and even some Republican politicians are backing a cap-and-trade carbon emissions policy.
“Judged by the flurry of US congressional initiatives - on Tuesday Capitol Hill held four simultaneous hearings on global warming - lawmakers are taking to emissions reduction targets with the zeal of converts.
For the Democratic party, which plans to pass a statute on global warming by July 4 - US independence day - the issue was for the first time seen to be a vote winner last year. But even some Republicans are warily tracking the change in public opinion, which shifted markedly in favour of action on global warming after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005 and the success of last year’s Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth.
“You have moved this whole issue into the big leagues now,” said John Warner, the [Republican] Virginia senator , having listened to the chief executives of BP America, the oil company, and PG&E Corp, America’s largest electric utility, testify to the merits of carbon cap and trading systems. “You’ve gotten our attention.”
Several prominent Republicans, who were sceptical about the science behind global warming, this week shifted their position. Many have noted the popularity of California’s radical initiative to reduce US carbon emissions by 80 per cent from 1990s levels by 2050. The plan was launched by Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was re-elected in a landslide as Republican governor in November.”