The Obama administration has proposed the most far-reaching climate change adaptation and mitigation measures ever put in place by U.S. President. The plan is to cut down power plant emissions, boosting the amount of wind and solar energy installations on public lands and buildings as the U.S looks to move into the future conscious of the effects of global warming.
Three main policies are included in the plan.The first addresses emissions of greenhouse gases, chiefly carbon dioxide (CO2), from new and existing power plants. This version of the Climate Action plan would place limits on greenhouse gas emissions from more than 1,000 existing coal-fired power plants for the first time ever. In addition, natural gas power plants would also be included.
Here is a Graph of the USA CO2 emissions:
The White House has mentioned that without additional measures to reduce carbon emissions from the electricity sector, continued emissions decreases are unlikely to occur by market forces alone. Their bill to limit at present power plants could benefit a continued drop in overall U.S. emissions.
The second track is to help the U.S to fight the climate change’s effects that are already taking place now. $8 billion available for fighting those changes and investing in new technology to limit the impact of those.
Lastly, the policy proposals include provisions to work with the international community to address global warming, both from an emissions reduction and climate adaptation standpoint. The climate action plan commits the U.S. to working with international partners to reduce the emissions of not only carbon emissions, but also non-carbon based greenhouse gases such as HFCs. HFCs are used as a refrigerant and is a powerful short-lived climate warming agent. According to Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, a phasedown of HFC emissions in the U.S. can deliver a quarter of the administration’s 2020 climate goal. According to a study being published on Wednesday, a global phaseout of HFC use during the early part of this century can avoid a half a degree Celsius in future warming by the end of the century.
Transportation emissions making up about 30% of U.S greenhouse gas emissions, with heavy-duty trucks being 20% of the total. The Obama administration has also looked to increase efficiency in vehicles by enacting the toughest passenger vehicle fuel efficiency standards in U.S. history. The administration has worked to enact post-2018 fuel economy standards for heavy-duty trucks, buses, and vans, by working with the auto industry.
Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf
http://www.usclimatenetwork.org/policy/presidents-climate-action-plan
http://www.c2es.org/federal/obama-climate-plan-resources
http://www.c2es.org/federal/climate-plan-resources-funding