Center for American Progress: Solutions to a Global Climate Crisis

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http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/07/climate_...

Solutions to a Global Climate Crisis

July 23, 2008

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“The good news is we can do it,” said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, about the United States’ ability to move aggressively toward a low-carbon economy. “We have the resources in this country, but do we have the will?” Resch joined other energy policy experts in a transatlantic dialogue on how to reduce carbon emissions and combat global warming at a Center for American Progress panel Tuesday moderated by CAP Senior Fellow Bracken Hendricks.

Helga Flores Trejo, executive director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in North America, delivered the opening remarks. She pointed out that “obviously we are in a crisis, an energy crisis, a global warming crisis,” but she applauded U.S. policy innovations occurring at the state level and encouraged more dialogue on how to support renewable energy and climate solutions at the federal level. Hendricks agreed that in spite of a lack of progress on national climate and clean energy legislation, there has been bold leadership in the United States from states, cities, and the private sector.

Silke Malorny, a senior adviser to member of the European Parliament Rebecca Harms, focused on the success story of renewable energy in Germany. There is a push across Europe to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent, and increase renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2020. To achieve this, 20 out of 27 European countries have instituted feed-in tariffs—an incentive structure that gives renewable energy priority transmission, distribution, and access to the grid while guaranteeing preferential rates.

Malorny emphasized that aggressive deployment of renewable energy has many advantages. “It’s not only environmental benefits that we gain from this strategy, but it also has a very strong economic impact,” she said. More than 200,000 people are currently employed in the renewable energy industry in Germany, and the number is expected to double by 2020.

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