Climate Capsule Week of December 1

Highlight of the Week
International Climate Negotiations Kick Off In Poland

Delegates from nearly 190 countries are gathering in Poland December 1-12 to negotiate a pathway out of the climate crisis.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan is the halfway mark in the two-year negotiations to update the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The world leaders have set a December 2009 deadline to complete a new global climate treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The early December conference will launch a very intense year of climate negotiations leading up to a conclusion at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009.

Attending the Poznan conference are members of Congress, including Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who have been designated by President-elect Barack Obama to report back about the status of the negotiations.

“America is back,” said Kerry, emphasizing the election of Barack Obama signals U.S. intent to take a leadership role on climate change. “After eight years of obstruction and delay and denial, the United States is going to rejoin the world community in tackling this global challenge.”

The international community is now working in earnest to set the stage for rapid action in the New Year. Despite the economic crisis, now we have an opportunity to turn the page to a new economy using new initiatives and technology that will revive the United States.

Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of National Wildlife Federation, has been made chair of a coalition of 29 of the nation’s most prominent conservation groups. Schweiger will lead NWF’s advocacy in Poznan, highlighting the urgency of action and pressing delegates to launch an ambitious agenda for 2009.

He will also lead a workshop called Voices of Conservation and Development on Adaptation Strategy. This public event on Monday, December 8 highlights the interdependence of conservation and development in strategies for global adaptation to climate change.

For more information coming to you directly from Poznan, Poland, please contact Christine Dorsey at Dorsey@nwf.org.

Happening This Week

Congress is on recess this week.

December 1-12: United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.

Wednesday, December 3: Hidden Health Costs of Transportation Policy: Saving Lives and Dollars, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m., 2212 Rayburn House Office Building.

The Prospects for Climate Change Policy in a New Administration, 1-2 p.m., Johns Hopkins University, Room 500, 1717 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC, For more information and to RSVP, contact (202) 663-5786 or geei.sais@gmail.com.

Quote:

“I [will] fight for sustained investment in research and development to create cutting-edge, sustainable energy alternatives that capitalize on America's vast renewable natural resources, ingenuity, and workforce.”

—Suzanne Kosmas, new Representative-elect for Florida's 24th congressional district, says that energy independence is critical to national security and domestic job creation.

Economic Message of the Week
Ten Major Mass. Businesses Form Corporate Council With State Environmental League

Ten prominent Massachusetts companies have joined together as a business council to provide a corporate voice in support of environmental regulations, The Boston Globe reports.

“The purpose is to make clear that a healthy environment and a healthy economy are not in conflict,” said George Bachrach, a former state senator who took over as head of the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM) last year.

The Boston-area companies that have formed the ELM Corporate Council include Stop & Shop, Legal Sea Foods, Saunders Hotel Group, Shawmut Design and Construction, Grossman Marketing, Triumvirate Environmental, Cape Wind Associates, Genzyme, Millipore, and NSTAR.

The objective of the new business council is to liaise the corporate sector with environmental advocates to improve policy and business practice in Massachusetts. The Corporate Council will represent a pro-business and pro-environment association that advocates for sound environmental and business regulatory policy.

“…Businesses and environmental groups have more in common than sometimes they think they do,” said Rick Heller, senior vice president and general counsel for Legal Sea Foods.

New Transition To Green Report Urges Clean Energy To Revitalize Economy

The nation’s most prominent environmental and conservation groups have collaborated on a comprehensive recommendation report for the President-elect’s transition team.

Twenty-nine of the largest environmental groups in the United States issued a report for President-elect Barack Obama outlining how he can revitalize the economy by protecting our environment. “Our economy is suffering and so is our environment. The solutions to both go hand-in-hand,” said Larry Schweiger, president and CEO of National Wildlife Federation.

“President-elect Obama has kicked the gears of change into motion. The call for action will echo from the halls of Washington to the capitals of nations around the world,” said Schweiger, who has been voted in as chair of this national coalition for the environment. To view the full Transition to Green report, please visit SaveOurEnvironment.org.