Earth Day
|
Gore's Top Ten
by Walter Simpson
|
|
|
On March 22, 2007, Al Gore testified before Congress on climate change. Here are the policy recommendations he offered to solve the climate crisis:
1. An immediate “carbon freeze” that would cap US CO2 emissions at current levels, followed by a program to generate 90-percent reductions by 2050.
2. Start a long-term tax shift to reduce payroll taxes and increase taxes on CO2 emissions, i.e. institute revenue-neutral carbon taxes.
3. Put aside a portion of carbon tax revenues to help low-income people make the transition.
4. Create a strong international treaty by working toward “de facto compliance with Kyoto” and moving up the start date for Kyoto’s successor from 2012 to 2010.
5. Implement a moratorium on construction of new coal-fired power plants that are not compatible with carbon capture and sequestration.
6. Create an “ELECTRANET”—a smart electricity grid that allows individuals and businesses to feed power back in at prevailing market rates, i.e. extend net-metering to all clean energy technologies and all customer classes.
7. Raise CAFE standards to increase fuel economy for cars and so-called light trucks.
8. Set a date for a ban on incandescent light bulbs.
9. Create “Connie Mae,” a carbon-neutral mortgage association, to help defray the upfront costs of energy-efficient building.
10. Have the SEC require disclosure of carbon emissions in corporate reporting, as a relevant “material risk.”
Print page
Email page
Tag with del.icio.us
Digg it
Seed Newsvine
Submit to reddit
Subscribe to feed
Permalink