20
January 2009 - As Barack Obama is sworn
in as the 44th President of the United States,
he is widely expected to usher in a new
era for green leadership from the US.
Obama places the environment
high on his agenda. On his historic victory
speech on 5 November, he cited "a planet
in peril" as one of the three key challenges
he will face as President, alongside "two
wars" and "the worst financial
crisis in a century".
One of Barack Obama's
key election promises was an energy policy
that will fight climate change, create jobs
and reduce the US's dependence on foreign
oil and gas.
During his election
campaign, Obama said he planned to cut greenhouse
emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, implement
a ten-year, $150 billion clean energy plan
and create five million 'green' jobs.
"Obama's green jobs
strategy could deliver a 'quadruple win'
- dealing simultaneously with the economic
recession, energy security, job creation
and emissions," commented Achim Steiner,
the Executive Director of the UN Environment
Programme, in an interview with the Press
Association.
The idea of a Green
New Deal, which is advocated by the United
Nations as a way out of the economic crisis,
is increasingly gaining momentum. Several
other leaders have also recently proposed
green economic stimulus packages to help
their economies out of the slump, including
Asian powerhouses Japan and the Republic
of Korea.
Barack Obama has continued
to give strong signals on the environment
since his election, appointing what is being
hailed as an unprecedentedly green US Administration.
Most notably, he created the post of Energy
and Environment Coordinator for Carol Browner,
who was head of the Environmental Protection
Agency under former President Bill Clinton.
As Obama's 'Climate Czar', Browner's job
will be to coordinate the White House's
work on climate change across all the different
energy, climate and environment entities.
Other notable green
appointments include Steven Chu as Secretary
of Energy and John P. Holdren as his Science
Adviser. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven
Chu - who is one of the world's top researchers
on alternative and renewable energy - was
an early advocate for finding scientific
solutions to climate change. John Holdren,
a professor of environmental policy at Harvard
University, has focused on the causes and
consequences of climate change and advocates
a strong and rapid global effort to address
it.
"These are not
political figures come to this issue yesterday,
they are some of the most authoritative,
competent and knowledgeable people,"
Achim Steiner told the Press Association.
Barack Obama's green
proposals have been welcomed by environmentalists
around the world including Yvo de Boer,
the Executive Director of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, which is leading
the international climate negotiations:
"Obama indicated that he wants to show
leadership both domestically and internationally.
I feel that's a very important signal of
encouragement for all of the countries in
these negotiations. The lesson of Kyoto
is that we clearly need to find a way forward
that the United States is willing to commit
to," he said.
The new Obama Administration
has a busy time ahead. Its tasks will include
enrolling the support of Congress to cut
US greenhouse gas emissions, while any new
international post-2012 climate treaty will
have to gain the approval of Senate.
But the new President
takes office with the promise of new environmental
leadership from the White House.
"When I am President,
any governor who's willing to promote clean
energy will have a partner in the White
House," he told governors at a climate
change conference on 18 November. "Any
company that's willing to invest in clean
energy will have an ally in Washington.
And any nation that's willing to join the
cause of combating climate change will have
an ally in the United States of America."
Go to Further Resources
or follow the hyperlinks for more information
on Barack Obama's energy plan, green team
and position on climate change.
