Word: carbonization
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Environmentalists were ecstatic when the House of Representatives passed the carbon cap-and-trade bill, led by Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman and Edward Markey, in June. Certainly, the legislation to limit national greenhouse-gas emissions could have been stronger, but the very possibility that the House would pass any such bill would have been unimaginable a year ago. And the timing was perfect. With do-or-die climate negotiations set for the U.N.'s global-warming summit in Copenhagen at the end of the year, the U.S. needed to show the world that it was ready to act on carbon...
...that's the problem. Despite hopes - and promises by the Democratic leadership - that the Senate would tackle cap-and-trade legislation this fall, it's looking increasingly as if the U.S. will go to Copenhagen with no national carbon caps in place. Senate majority leader Harry Reid told reporters on Sept. 15 that the Senate might have to wait to act on cap and trade until after tackling health care and banking reform. "We still have next year to complete things if we have to," he said...
...have been getting calls from foreign embassies suddenly unsure of where the U.S. stands on a global deal. What they want to avoid is a replay of the negotiations over the Kyoto Protocol back in 1997 - the U.S., led by then Vice President Al Gore, agreed to long-term carbon-emission reductions, only to be repudiated later 95-0 by the U.S. Senate...
...global deal being achieved in Copenhagen - one that would succeed the expiring Kyoto Protocol and include both the U.S. and major developing nations like China - are already looking dim. There are still major differences between the developed and developing nations over how the responsibility for cutting carbon should be divided - and how much the rich world should devote to poor countries that will need to adapt to climate change. "It's going to be a very difficult situation at Copenhagen," says Annie Petsonk, the international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund...
...Arguments over the cap and trade system, as it is known, and especially its effectiveness compared to a carbon tax, have fizzed for years. Both mechanisms slap a price on emissions, and urge those affected to invest in more efficient uses of energy. Critics of taxes say that they're open to fluctuation and that certain industries can win exemptions, undermining a tax's efficacy. Opponents of cap and trade systems, meantime, level similar charges. This much is sure: while taxes might fix the short-term cost of emitting CO2, helping homes and businesses figure out how much to invest...