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Tag: climate policy
Gore Meets With Trump To Discuss Climate Policy

Gore Meets With Trump To Discuss Climate Policy

By Amy Tennery and Timothy Gardner

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Vice President Al Gore, a leading voice in the fight against climate change, and Donald Trump, who at one point called it a hoax, met on Monday in what Gore called a “productive” session.

Gore, a Democrat, spent about 90 minutes in meetings at the president-elect’s Trump Tower apartment and office building in Manhattan. In addition to seeing Trump, he also met briefly with the Republican’s daughter, Ivanka, who attended a series of high-level meetings since her father won the Nov. 8 election.

Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential campaign to Republican George W. Bush, has for years been devoted to lowering carbon emissions blamed for climate change.

As he campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton earlier this year, Gore warned that Trump would steer the world toward “climate catastrophe” if elected president.

That warning came amid Trump campaign speeches calling on the United States to drop out of last year’s global climate accord signed in Paris to lower carbon emissions blamed for a warming planet.

Trump also referred to human-induced climate change as a hoax, and had tweeted that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

Since then, however, in an interview with The New York Times, Trump has indicated that he might have an open mind to joining the effort to battle climate change.

Gore had a somewhat more upbeat take on Trump after huddling with the wealthy New York real estate developer and television reality star.

“It was a sincere search for areas of common ground,” Gore told reporters, adding, “I found it an extremely interesting conversation and, to be continued.”

Aides to Trump were not immediately available to comment on Monday’s meeting.

Gore, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work in urging action against the risks of global warming, was also kicking off on Monday a 24-hour talk-a-thon to urge more action in the battle against climate change, which threatens to raise sea levels, spread diseases and increase droughts in more regions in the world.

In a possibly related matter, Trump is scheduled to meet on Tuesday with Rex Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobil Corp who possibly is being considered for the job of secretary of state in the Trump administration. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Exxon Mobil has embraced the 2015 Paris Agreement that would lower global greenhouse gas emissions by between 26 percent and 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025.

An aide to Gore said the Trump transition reached out to him after the former vice president had said he intended to do everything he could to work with the president-elect to ensure that the United States remains a leader in the effort to address climate change.

(Reporting By Amy Tennery in New York and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Additional reporting by Melissa Fares in New York; Writing by Richard Cowan; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

IMAGE: Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Vice President Al Gore exits after a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower, December 5, 2016.  REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Al Gore’s Warning For Voters Worried About Climate Change

Al Gore’s Warning For Voters Worried About Climate Change

Published with permission from AlterNet

Is Al Gore still bitter about his 2000 election loss to George W. Bush? Or just terrified Trump may win? Gore did not attend the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, after remaining silent on his choice for president for much of the primaries. However, in July Gore did tweet:

As some Sanders supporters jumped ship to vote Green last month, Gore was brought back to the time third-party voting played a large role in electing Bush.

Gore told Think Progress:

“First of all, I understand their feelings and misgivings. But if they are interested in my personal advice, I am voting for Hillary Clinton. I urge everyone else to do the same. I particularly urge anyone who is concerned about the climate crisis, sees it as the kind of priority that I see it as, to look at the sharp contrast between the solar plan that Secretary Clinton has put forward, and her stated commitment to support the Clean Power Plan, and the contrast between what she has said and is proposing with the statements of the Republican nominee, which give me great concern.”

Meanwhile, Jill Stein insists that the Democrats are the problem. According to Stein:

“We’re really seeing an energy policy under Obama and the Democrats, so-called ‘all of the above,’ which has really been worse for the environment than under George Bush. It’s really created a situation where the U.S. is now the number one producer of fossil fuels around the world. We can’t keep using this failed policy of silencing ourselves with politics of fear.”

Yet Stein has nearly no chance of winning the presidency—and a vote for her or any third-party candidate is, realistically speaking, a protest vote.

“I would also urge them [voters] to look carefully as I know they have, at the consequences of going in another direction for the third or fourth alternative,” Al Gore said. “The harsh reality is that we have two principal choices.”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Do You Support President Obama’s Climate Policy?

Do You Support President Obama’s Climate Policy?

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Report: Climate Change Action Is Good For The Economy

Report: Climate Change Action Is Good For The Economy

Another study has found that mitigating climate change not only helps the environment, but is actually beneficial for the economy.

The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate put together a report to “examine whether it is possible to achieve lasting economic growth while also tackling the risks of climate change.”

Opponents of climate change action tend to argue that it’s too costly. But the report found that, if governments are motivated to support smart urban growth, they can reduce carbon emissions without negatively impacting the economy.

“Countries at all levels of income now have the opportunity to build lasting economic growth at the same time as reducing the immense risks of climate change,” the report states.

Over the next 15 years, the economy will more than double and at least one billion people will move to cities. The world will spend around $90 trillion on infrastructure.

At the same time, if no climate action is taken, warming will continue to increase. The report warns that the longer the world waits to do something about it, the harder it will be to transition to a low-carbon economy.

The report suggests that governments should use the money they were already going to spend on sustaining urban sprawl over the next 15 years on implementing a low-carbon system instead.

“This would mean building more compact, connected, coordinated cities rather than continuing with unmanaged sprawl; restoring degraded land and making agriculture more productive rather than continuing deforestation; scaling up renewable energy sources rather than continued dependence on fossil fuels,” the report states.

In order to make this transition, cities would need to end fossil fuel subsidies (which the energy industry won’t be pleased with), invest in research and development of low-carbon technologies, and have “strong political leadership and the active participation of civil society.”

The report states that by “combining renewable energy with reduced fossil fuel investment, more compact cities, and more efficiently managed energy demand,” infrastructure costs will only increase by $270 billion per year. But these have the potential to be offset by lower operating costs.

The report concludes with a 10-point action plan. The plan includes a call for a “strong” climate agreement and for lawmakers to think about climate when they make economic decisions. It also stresses sound environmental policy, such as halting the deforestation of national forests, restoring degraded forests, and moving away from coal.

“Implementation of the policies and investments proposed in this report could deliver at least half of the reductions in emissions needed by 2030 to lower the risk of dangerous climate change,” the report states.” All the measures would deliver multiple economic and social benefits, even before considering their benefit to climate.”

This report comes the week before the United Nations’ Climate Summit, where countries will discuss national commitments towards combating climate change and a possible international agreement in 2015. It’s been five years since the summit in Copenhagen, which “ended up simmering into mediocrity,” according toThink Progress‘ Ari Phillips.

AFP Photo

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