California’s climate protection law, AB 32, its renewable portfolio and energy efficiency standards, and its upcoming low carbon fuels standard are influencing federal lawmakers, according to the head of an environmental and economic think tank in the nation’s capitol, Resources for the Future. “California has a major impact on the national agenda,” said Phil Sharp, president of the influential Resources for the Future, during a November 15 address in San Francisco. The state is “the nation’s laboratory.” He added that enactment of AB 32 ensured that federal lawmakers would take up the issue of a mandatory carbon cap, with the “only question being when.” Sharp, a former federal lawmaker from Indiana, holds little hope that a climate change bill will pass this session because President Bush refuses to endorse any measures. Passage of complex, controversial legislation requires the “President to be part of the action for things to move,” he pointed out. California Public Utilities Commission member Dian Grueneich noted during the informal noontime meeting that energy efficiency standards must be an integral part of climate change legislation. “It is a strategy that will save money,” she said. The cost of carbon is a key part of emission reduction strategies, with nearly all agreeing that curbing emissions will drive up the cost of energy. Grueneich added that the nation needs to avoid the mistakes the European Union made when developing its global warming laws, which gave short shrift to energy efficiency. Sharp also pointed out that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing a notice of proposed rulemaking for vehicle emissions standards. He said some suspect the rulemaking will be used to knock out California’s carbon emissions reduction standard for vehicles, which is awaiting EPA approval. Resources for the Future is set to issue a report assessing U.S. climate change policy options November 28. It is being developed in collaboration with 23 companies, including Edison International, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Duke Energy, and General Electric. It will evaluate the optimum price of carbon under a carbon cap-and-trade regime, a carbon tax, and different ways of allocating carbon credits and structuring emission offsets.
