Response to Policy Paper 34 ‘Clinton, Obama, McCain: Europe’s Best Hope for Fighting Climate Change’

I feel Stephen Boucher has taken on a difficult task because the future of the US policy on climate change is wide open. Even though all three candidates make their promises today, one cannot tell to what extent the eventual President will deliver. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to have a closer look.

We all know from past experiences that, once the United States embark on tackling a problem –in this case emissions—this affects the international economy as a whole. We can already see in the US today, that all action taken by industry and the debates in scientific circles as well as the initiatives on ETS at the state level are far from being half-hearted. This is for instance evidenced by the venture capital market’s keenness in looking for clean energy projects.

One can easily get trapped by all the numbers mentioned in the single programs. It is important to know these facts, but a guideline that sets them into perspective should be introduced. That is easily drawn for all proposals by referring to the IPCC recommendations and/or the 2°C goal.