There are only seven countries in the world with a higher GDP than California. Aware of its importance, the U.S. state has joined the ranks of those trying to effectively fight Climate Change. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger initiated new laws and called on friends from Europe for help.
 | British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaking on July 31 2006 in Long Beach, California. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger looks on (Photo: The Climate Group) |
Aware of the increasing political importance of global warming in the United States, Schwarzenegger has distanced himself from the climate policy of fellow Republican, President George W. Bush, and linked up with more environmentally oriented politicians such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A heavy hitter in the fight against climate change
"California will not wait for our federal government to take strong action on global warming," said Schwarzenegger at the Climate & Energy Roundtable in Long Beach in summer 2006. "International partnerships are needed in the fight against global warming and California has a responsibility and a profound role to play to protect not only our environment, but to be a world leader on this issue as well."
Schwarzenegger’s words were backed by a landmark climate protection bill aiming at 25 percent less CO2 emissions in 2020. If implemented effectively, California could truly prove to be a heavy hitter in the fight against climate change. With an estimated population of 36 million people, California is the most populous state in the United States, and boasts a bigger economy than all but a handful of countries in the world. The state is also the world's 12th-biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitter.
 | Blair, Schwarzenegger and Howard at the Roundtable (Photo: The Climate Group) |
Prime Minister Blair, an outspoken proponent of government action against climate change, used the occasion to make his first official visit to California. After the Roundtable, he signed an agreement with Governor Schwarzenegger pledging cooperation on tackling climate change and promoting the adoption of clean sources of energy.
Schwarzenegger and Bush also met with heads of some of the world's biggest companies, including Lord John Browne of BP, Richard Branson of Virgin Group, Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Holliday of DuPont, and James Murdoch of British Sky Broadcasting.
"The Roundtable discussion focused on how business and government can work together to accelerate the deployment of clean energy and clean technologies; in short, how best to facilitate the necessary transition to a low carbon economy," says Steve Howard, CEO of the Climate Group, the international NGO that hosted the event.
Campaigning for a balanced climate - or only re-election?
Critics attributed Schwarzenegger’s initiative with his campaign for re-election in autumn. And Blair, they said, had long struggled to make headway on cooperative climate policy with US President George W. Bush's. Having failed so far, he took the chance to influence federal policy through state level politics.
"In the short term it appears that the gains for both parties are mostly political," says John Larsen, climate and energy expert at the World Resources Institute in Washington D.C. "Blair and his cabinet show their constituency that they are still invested in moving the US on climate change even after they've gotten nowhere with the White House."
Regardless of the short-term political intention and implications of the UK-California agreement, however, Larsen acknowledges there could be some tangible results from the cooperation. "In the longer term, California could potentially tap the wealth of experience in climate policy that the UK possesses," says Larsen. "There could be substantial collaboration that could ultimately allow the diffusion of some policy instruments from the UK that have not found their way into the United States."
Linking up emissions trade systems in Europe and the U.S.
One of these policy instruments is carbon emissions trading. Britain is an active participant in the European Union's flagship Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the first international carbon market that gives incentives to industries that reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide. The Blair government has also recently proposed the controversial idea of introducing domestic carbon emissions on households throughout Britain.
Blair, among many others, sees emissions trading as a viable way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "One thing that would be really, really exciting is if we could start a tie-up between what we are doing in Europe with the European trading emissions system and what could happen here in the US and here in the state of California," said Blair in July. Despite all the good intentions, emissions trading might be important if California's booming businesses are to achieve 25 percent less CO2 emissions by 2020.
editor: Valdis Wish
publishing date: October 2, 2006
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