Introduction
The President’s Climate Action Plan was released by the United States Executive Office of the President in June 2013. It set forth a vision for the US government to work to prevent climate change not only domestically, but internationally. This blog post will first describe this action plan, and then give examples of three initiatives set forth in the action plan.
The President’s Climate Action Plan
This document is in the form of a 21-page report, and is divided into three sections. The first section is titled, “Cut Carbon Pollution in America,” and describes the President’s plan for domestic efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the US. It sets forth goals with respect to deploying more clean energy, cutting waste in both the home and business sectors, and reducing other greenhouse gas emissions. One initiative put forth in this section is cutting carbon pollution through advanced transportation technologies, and I will describe this initiative in this blog post.
The second section of the report is titled, “Prepare the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change”. This section describes plans to build safer infrastructures and communities, protecting the US economy and natural resources, and referring to science to manage climate impacts. This section describes an initiative focused on preventing droughts, wildfires, and floods, and I will describe this in my blog post.
Finally the third section is titled, “Lead International Efforts to Address Global Climate Change”, and describes international efforts the US is involved in. Initiatives are described that involve joint efforts between countries, and how international negotiation is intended to be used to develop new international joint efforts is covered. One initiative described in this section involves international efforts to prevent deforestation, and I will cover this initiative here.
Cutting Carbon Pollution in America through Advanced Transportation Technologies
Several initiatives under this main initiative were described:
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Renewable Fuels Standard – This initiative supports investing in research and development to develop new biofuels and bring them online. Biofuels are energy made of biomass; the two most comment types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel.
- Department of Energy’s eGallon program – This program informs drivers about electric car operating costs in their state. The national average for operating costs for electric cars is only $1.14 per gallon of gasoline equivalent.
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United States Navy and Departments of Energy and Agriculture – These agencies are collaborating on an initiative to work with the private sector to accelerate the development and use of advanced biofuels in military and commercial sectors.
Preparing the United States for Climate Change: Droughts, Wildfires, and Floods
The President’s Climate Action Plan also described efforts to mitigate the impact of droughts, wildfires and floods:
- National Drought Resilience Partnership – The Obama Administration launched this effort which was built upon the National Disaster Recovery Framework. This is intended as a “front door” for communities seeking assistance in preventing droughts and reducing the impact of droughts.
- Western Watershed Enhancement Partnership – This is a pilot project in five western states between the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture. This project aims to reduce the risk of wildfires by removing flammable vegetation around critical areas such as water reservoirs. In August 2014, the program announced that it had restored an important central Arizona watershed.
- Update to Flood Risk Reduction Standards – This effort is an extension of the work done by the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. It will incorporate the most recent science on expected rates of sea-level rise in different regions.
International Efforts: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
Finally, the President’s plan sets forth plans to address international deforestation. The Obama Administration is working partnering with countries to reduce global land-use-related emissions, to create new environmentally-friendly models for rural development, and to conserve biodiversity, protect watersheds, and improve livelihoods.
The U.S. Agency for International Development sponsored these specific initiatives:
- The Forest Investment Program and Forest Carbon Partnership Facility – These are two of the multi-lateral initiatives that contributed to reducing more than 140 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
- Green Prosperity – This program in Indonesia, which is sponsored by the Millennium Challenge Corporation, supports environmentally-sustainable economic development in select districts.
- Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 – This initiative is geared toward addressing agriculture-driven deforestation. It brings together governments, industry, and the community to reduce tropical deforestation related to agricultural activities.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the President’s plan in 2013 put forth an ambitious course of action for the US on the climate change front. The US is now focused on initiatives to reduce domestic and international carbon pollution, and has met with success with a few of these initiatives already. Hopefully, they will continue to be successful in the future.