Climate
GE teams with USCAP members to advance cap and trade program
GE and its executives are active in numerous other climate change initiatives around the world. GE is a founding member of the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a group of businesses and leading environmental organizations that have come together to call on the federal government to quickly enact strong national legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
USCAP has played a significant role in making climate change a priority issue in both Houses of Congress. GE is encouraged by the Obama Administration’s action to put a price on carbon in its budget proposal, through a cap and trade program.
GE believes it is essential that governments establish a price on GHG emissions as a price for carbon will encourage development of new technology. This GHG price must be predictable, long term and at a level that achieves required emission cuts.
In 2009, USCAP created a proposal called Blueprint for Legislative Action on Climate, which we think is a catalyst for new public policy. The Blueprint calls for reductions between 14 and 20 percent of 2005 GHG by 2020 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050 through an economy-wide cap and trade program. It also recognizes that such a program must be affordable and economically sustainable through use of domestic and international offsets (emissions not under the cap) and other cost containment provisions.
In addition to offsets, the Blueprint also supports mostly free allowances (emission rights) to utilities and other energy intensive industries in the early period of the program as a key cost containment measure. In the case of utilities, these allowances would go to local distribution companies to protect consumers from energy price shocks. The system transitions to a fully auction-based system over a reasonable period of time.
Members of USCAP are not working together because we agree on everything, but because we know there are tough technical challenges ahead and these challenges will only be solved by finding common ground.
