Expert Speaks to SPUSA Students about Climate Change Solutions in 2009
July 18th, 2008
By Matthew Barr, SPUSA Summer Intern
Last Friday, Manik Roy, Director of Congressional Affairs of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, spoke to SPUSA students about climate change and opportunities for cutting carbon emissions in the new administration. He explained the enormous threat posed by climate change and then discussed the potential solutions.
First, Dr. Roy pointed out that climate change is happening, in spite of the opinions of a large number of Americans. Though there may be a couple of remaining scientists who believe that climate change is not caused by human activity, the vast majority of scientists and almost all peer-reviewed scientific literature assume that climate change is occurring. He noted that this degree of consensus in the scientific community is rare, even with some apparently obvious issues. He then briefly discussed some of the potential consequences of climate change, including heat waves and flooding, which could be disastrous, especially in impoverished areas of the globe. Unfortunately, the high point of U.S. response to climate change was back in 1992 when the United States signed and ratified the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Since then, the United States has not ratified any treaties or passed domestic legislation requiring reductions in carbon emissions.
However, Dr. Roy thinks we may be close to a legislative tipping point. To support this he cited previous major environmental legislation, which has started with recognition of the problem in the scientific community, followed by increasing public awareness of the issue until finally a major event, such as toxic chemicals in the Love Canal, catalyses Congressional action. Though, of course, nobody wishes for a crisis, Dr. Roy thinks that it may be possible that a critical climate change event could happen soon, perhaps with the potential thaw of the North Pole this summer.
Even now, there is significant political-will to take mandatory action to stem climate change emissions. The recent Lieberman-Warner Bill, though unsuccessful, demonstrated that there is a majority in the Senate favoring a cap-and-trade system. Forty-eight senators voted for the bill, and an additional six said they would have voted for it had they been present. Roy explained the benefits of a cap-and-trade system similar to that proposed by the Lieberman-Warner Bill, noting that it sets a mandatory limit on the amount of carbon-emissions that can be produced, but leaves it to the market to determine which companies can afford to pay for the right to emit carbon, and which companies cannot. This system would provide a strong incentive for innovation since by creating cleaner technologies, companies could save money by producing less carbon, either because they would have to buy fewer carbon “permits” or because they could sell their excess carbon “permits” to other companies.
While Roy admitted that there is no silver bullet to solve climate change, technologies like carbon sequestration, low carbon fuels, and nuclear energy could all help to limit carbon emissions. Advances in these and other clean technologies encouraged by an effective cap-and-trade system might just stem the tide of climate change.
Questions: How can we encourage profit-driven companies to reduce emissions when reducing emissions could be very costly to these companies? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cap-and-trade system compared to a carbon tax? Since climate change is an international problem, what can we do to ensure that emissions are reduced not just in the United States but across the world?

Written by Matthew Barr and Katherin Santoro, SPUSA summer interns



By Matthew Barr, Summer SPUSA Intern