Global warming is an issue pertaining to the world, and is as a result of human interferences and activities. It has not only put the world at risk of a complete ‘meltdown’ of the ice at the poles, but also is destroying the very atmosphere which helps us breathe. Car emissions, burning of fossil fuels, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, all contribute to the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a global catastrophe which the world is trying to cope with. The number of laws set and agreed upon by many a nation, wasn’t signed by USA, the largest polluter in the world, leading to a steady rise in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) over the past few years. Let’s find out what led to this rapid rise in GHG over the last few years in USA.

Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases, both natural and anthropogenic, which emit and absorb radiation of the infrared radiation emitted by the sun and reflected by the clouds. This cycle is known as the greenhouse effect. When anthropogenic gases like pollutants are released into the atmosphere, they can trap radiation, resulting in a heating up of the atmosphere. This process causes global warming.

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Barack Obama, our President-elect, can’t win. Since his energy plan proposes carbon cuts before the technology is in place to achieve the goal, the coal associations are not convinced. Environmentalists are cautious as well and argue that his “clean coal” plan does not add up.

Coal will always be an important energy source. Development and improvement of the tools that are required to make it cleaner is not a contradiction to alternate energy production methods. In reality, long-term energy demands will continually grow, making a diversified fuel mix necessary. All resources must be developed fully. This includes coal, which will be subject to increased pressure now that Washington is under Democratic control.

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Considering the vast sums of cash allocated to bank bailouts coupled with a sharp decline in tax revenues, many analysts are skeptical as to whether or not the future president, Barack Obama, will be able to fund the alternative energy proposals around which he campaigned.

Unheard during recent times, alternative energy developments will now have to compete in the arena with other urgent requirements for government financing.

Oil prices prove to be an obstacle in the road to cleaner energy.

With such a large percentage of the world depending on oil and gas for electricity, heating and transport, the cost of oil inevitably determines the manner in which investors view the economy. Since the summer, oil and gas prices have dropped at a phenomenal rate as a direct result of the looming recession.

On the 24th of October for example, the oil price reached a low of $62 per barrel, just half the price it was in July. Coincidently, this was on the same day that OPEC, in a desperate bid to drive up oil prices, announced a cut in production of around one hundred and fifty million barrels per day.

With the global economy showing no immediate signs of recovery, it is likely that oil and gas prices will remain relatively low, thus remaining a threat to any further renewable energy projects. It stands to reason that consumers will be less enthusiastic about alternative energy when oil prices are low, and as a result, the average citizen will have less interest in switching from a conventional car to an electric car. Likewise, utility companies also have less incentives to push for solar or nuclear energy.

Financial roadblock

Americans are only too well aware of the fact that the vast majority of the world’s oil reserves are located in countries which are at the best of times, considered to be unstable. This, together with international concern over global warming, is the driving force behind America’s push for renewable energy but the fact remains, without adequate capital, renewable energy cannot become a reality.

Financial institutions as well as investors are reluctant to become involved in a market which they feel cannot offer any guaranteed returns. As a result, companies wanting to develop alternative energy resources are unable to do so due to the lack of available finance. As an example, investment in renewable energy plummeted from twenty three billion dollars in the second quarter, to just seventeen billion in the third quarter while analysts predict a further drop is imminent.

President faces inevitable changes

During the recent campaign, Barack Obama, pledged to spend one hundred and fifty million dollars on alternative energy which in turn would create millions of new jobs. Additionally, he also wants ten percent of America’s electricity to come from renewable sources within the next four years. Obama, will be facing tough challenges as he takes office. With domestic spending and earnings down, the resultant decrease in tax revenue will make it increasingly difficult to fund alternative energy projects, while at the same time maintaining the country’s infrastructure. Interestingly enough, while on the campaign trail, both candidates declined to comment on which projects may need to be abandoned.

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Read more about GHG Emissions Credit Trading

On Tuesday, four Canadian provinces and seven American states proposed a program for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by vehicles, power plants and manufacturers.

This program, the Western Climate Initiative, would set up a regional carbon emission credit trading system designed to lower costs for affected industries. This plan would cover more polluters than would other regional plans which have been implemented I Canda, Europe and the U.S.

“We’re sending a strong message to our federal governments that states and provinces are moving forward in the absence of federal action, and we’re setting the stage for national programs that are just as aggressive,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement. The Western Climate Initiative aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region to pre-2005 levels by the year 2020, which would be a 15% reduction in emissions.

The reasoning behind this plan is that overall emissions can be reduced by allowing industries to trade credits for these greenhouse gas emissions. Businesses who cannot do enough on their own to reduce their emissions can buy emission credits from other companies who have been able to reduce their emissions on their own.

This plan has been proposed by the American states of Montana, Oregon, Utah, California, Arizona, Washington and New Mexico and the Canadian provinces British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.

It is now up to the lawmakers in these states and provinces to put these regulations into action. Legislative leaders in Utah worry that these regulations would place businesses in that state at a disadvantage.

“We want to make certain we do not unnecessarily harm Utah businesses,” Senate President Jon Valentine, a Republican, said. “You can end up with such an aggressive approach that it hurts businesses in Utah and makes us not competitive.”

Coal-based utilities, auto manufacturers and other large scale polluters are engaging in lobbying efforts to push their state legislatures to hold off until a uniform federal program is in place. However, the impetus for regional programs such as the Western Climate Initiative comes in large part from the failure by Congress earlier this year to pass legislation addressing global warming.

“Doing nothing is going to cost us a whole lot more in the future,” Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire told reporters in a conference call.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski called the framework “a solid starting point” that would help the state meet its goals.

Environmental groups are in general support of the Western Climate Initiative, but worry that it may allow states to loosen their oversight of industrial pollution by only imposing the minimum standards, which has led to campaigns being waged on the state level to work towards strengthening the rules.

“It basically would amount to a giant handout to polluters unless the states take further action,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, director of the clean energy program at Environment California.

Regulatory authorities in California have said that this plan presents the most cost-effective way to fight global warming, encourage the development of green technologies, reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy and create cleaner energy sources.

The plan also provides for companies to invest their resources in offset projects like planting trees to offset as much as 49% of their emissions.

The Western Climate Initiative has a much more ambitious goal than the carbon market started by 10 northeastern states this week (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which caps power plant emissions).

The Western Climate Initiative plans for industries to begin emission credit trading in January 2012 by industrial polluters and utility companies, with heating fuel companies and transportation companies getting in on the program by 2015.

Every state in the Initiative would determine how to distribute these emission credits, with 10% or more of the total credits being sold through auction and the rest given away at the program’s inception.

According to the California EPA, the Initiative will cover almost 90% of greenhouse gas emission sources if fully implemented.

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In the recently held G-8 summit, US President George Bush praised the move by G-8 leaders to rally behind and completely support a strategy for a global climate-change accord. The G-8 nations are the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia.

Read more about Future of Emissions Trading Markets: SO2, NOX, CO2, Mercury

Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences. Average weather may include average temperature, precipitation and wind patterns. It involves changes in the variability or average state of the atmosphere over durations ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by dynamic process on Earth, external forces including variations in sunlight intensity, and more recently by human activities.

However, according to many environmentalists argue that the summit’s unclear vows to work towards lowering greenhouse gas emissions by a drastic 50 percent by 2050 does not appear to be legally binding and can be interpreted in various ways.

At the summit, President Bush whole-heartedly supported the broad emissions-reduction goal. In a statement, President Bush reiterated his stance that further progress is going to depend on the further development of clean energy technologies. Developing nations, he said, will need assistance so they can become “good stewards of the environment.”

This was President Bush’s last summit with the G-8 leaders and he was all praises for the group’s attempts at combating global climate change. His main demand on a climate change accord was that developing countries who have a high rate of energy consumption, need to be included in some requirements along with the major industrialized democracies that make up the Group of Eight. However, developing nations such as China, India, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa have rejected the option of being part of the 50-percent reduction goal. It was the first time at a G-8 summit that the G-8 heads of state sat down together with these developing countries to discuss the problem of global warming. According to the heads of G-8, developing countries are today responsible for releasing nearly 80 percent of the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

In a move quite opposed to what President Bush first supported in his first term, at this summit he heartily backed the broad emissions-reduction goal stated by his summit partners. In his first term, President Bush firmly disputed scientists’ assertions about global warming.

In a statement, the President stated, “We made clear, and the other nations agreed, that they must also participate in an ambitious goal. With an interim goal, with interim plans to enable the world to successfully address climate change. And we made significant progress toward a comprehensive approach.”

Overall, US President Bush was instrumental in expanding on the global warming discussions beyond the G-8 membership. However, he won’t be in office long enough to witness the next chapter of the controversial climate change debate play out.

The discussion on global warming is a run-up to U.N.-led efforts to craft a new climate change accord at a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. That new accord would succeed the Kyoto Protocol that starts to expire in 2012.

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