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Last updated 1/1/08
Notable Quote
"The debate is over, my friends. Now the question is what do we do? Do we act, do we care enough about the young people of the next generation to act seriously and meaningfully, or are we going to just continue this debate and this discussion?" (Feb. 14, 2007, speech to Group of Eight, as quoted by Reuters)Climate Change Policies as 2008 Presidential Candidate
Unless otherwise noted the candidate’s initiatives/statements are from their Climate Action Plan and/or website.Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Targets (15 of 25)
- Author of the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 (“McCain-Lieberman”, S.280). Requires that emissions be reduced to 2004 levels by 2012, 1990 levels by 2020, and 60% below 1990 by 2050.
Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
- Author of the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007.
Renewable Portfolio Standard for Electricity (Incomplete)
- No stated policy
Vehicle GHG Emissions Standards (Incomplete)
- No stated policy
GHG Caps and Market System for Reductions (12.5 of 15.5)
- Included in McCain-Lieberman: Achieves targets through direct reductions by major industrial sectors and by allowing trading or borrowing of credits and offsets.
Alternative Fuels Programs (Incomplete)
- Included in McCain-Lieberman: Authorizes $200 million each for three new nuclear reactor designs. Includes secured loans and loan guarantees that would cover up to 80 percent of the cost of building the first of three new nuclear power plants with different designs. Also includes subsidies for new coal plants.
Energy Efficiency Programs (Incomplete)
- No stated policy
Additional Comments
- The two most glaring weaknesses of Mr. McCain’s plan are the relatively modest 2050 GHG reduction targets and the lack of comprehensive policies, which would be needed to achieve even the reductions he has targeted. Moreover, the subsidies for nuclear power and coal suggest that S280 is business-as-usual disguised as climate policy. First, continuing to subsidize coal is a recipe for pumping more GHGs into the atmosphere, not less. Second, nuclear power is not an answer to global warming - - after 60 years of research/experience, there is still no successful state or national program to safely store or reduce nuclear waste.
- Additional comments regarding nuclear power: More directly related to climate policy, nuclear power plants take decades to design, permit, and build. In the meantime, vast amounts of CO2 will build up, making it impossible to avoid passing the climate stabilization goal of no more than 450ppm of CO2 equivalent gases in the atmosphere (even if nuclear power results in dramatic reductions of emissions later on). The focus on nuclear and coal as power sources makes it difficult to imagine how the targets can be achieved (especially the 2012 and 2020 goals).
Summary
- Targets: McCain’s plan comes entirely from the reintroduced McCain-Lieberman climate legislation (2007) S280. Credit must be given for “drawing a line in the sand” with a hard cap to 2004 levels by 2012, but the 2050 target of 60% below 1990 levels (the base year used by the Kyoto protocol and most other climate policy) is 25% less aggressive than California’s target and the proposed Sanders-Boxer and Waxman federal bills, which all call for reduction of 80% from 1990 levels by 2050.
- Comprehensive Climate Action Plan: McCain does not offer a comprehensive plan. The components of climate policy contained in S280 are partial solutions, but certainly constitute important elements of a plan.
- Industrial/Electricity: Reliance on caps in this sector without a program to significantly improve energy efficiency, conservation, and deployment of renewables seriously undermines the probability that the proposed GHG reduction targets can be achieved. This is also a very significant weakness in the overall plan, because efficiency and conservation measures can achieve GHG reductions immediately. Because every ton of GHG emitted will remain in the atmosphere for decades, early actions are critical to climate stabilization and averting the most unpredictable and devastating impacts of global warming.
- Transportation: Reliance on caps in this sector means that all effort will be placed on upstream GHG sources such as refineries, instead of also addressing demand reduction strategies such as vehicle fuel efficiency and petroleum fuel displacement. These weaknesses again miss the opportunity for early GHG reductions.
