President Obama has announced, “So today…I’m directing the Environmental Protection Agency to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants and complete new pollution standards for both new and existing power plants.” This is the first proposal in the President’s new climate initiative. The President also called for expanded efforts to use clean energy” and for the US to lead the world in bold actions to “combat climate change.”

Investing in Clean Energy is one of the initiatives. It is an obvious way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By changing the way we use sources to produce energy, we will cut down the rate of greenhouse emissions by a big factor. It’s understandable that shifting to a clean energy costs the government a big amount of money, but this money goes to ensure long-term sustainability.The Administration focused on four areas, including energy sector reforms that are preconditions for sustainable clean energy development, energy efficiency, low carbon energy, and clean transport.

Promoting Sustainable Landscapes; to help countries that put forward ambitious programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), the United States announced it would dedicate $1 billion over 2010-2012 as part of the U.S. contribution towards the “fast start financing” reflected in the Copenhagen Accord.

One of the important initiatives is increasing fuel economy standards. Greenhouse gas emissions are not only produced when generation energy but also when using this generated energy in different ways. For example, in the transportation sector, heavy-duty vehicles are the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The Obama Administration set the first-ever fuel economy standards for Model Year 2014-2018 for heavy-duty trucks, buses, and vans. These standards will save 530 million barrels of oil. By setting new standards and reducing fuel consumption, transportation sector will produce much smaller greenhouse gases. The efforts will continue to improve the efficiency of moving goods around the country.

I personally think, for more reduction of emissions, the developed countries need to join efforts to be environmentally friendly. As we all know that a single hand can’t clap.

References

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/Climate_Fact_Sheet.pdf

President Obama’s Climate Initiative—The Bad News and Good News