Germany urges Obama to give world new "green" deal
Reuters | Nov 6, 2008
BERLIN - The United States after Barack Obama becomes president must work closely with Europe to fight climate change, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday.
"The world needs a 'new green deal'," Germany's Vice Chancellor said in a speech opening a two-day conference "Climate Change as a Security Threat." Steinmeier has warned climate change is a cause of friction and a threat to peace. Germany long has been a leading critic of U.S. President George W. Bush's resistance to cuts in greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
President-elect Obama said in his acceptance speech on Tuesday that climate change was a top priority, alongside wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- marking a sharp shift with Bush.
In his speech, Steinmeier said he was confident Obama was serious about tackling climate change. Steinmeier, who met Obama in July, said he had made his views on fighting climate change clear during the U.S. election.
"Obama is fully aware of America's global responsibility," Steinmeier said at the conference in Freiburg, a hotbed of photovoltaic energy production in Germany's southwest corner also known as the country's "solar city."
"It's hard to imagine a better time for this conference -- 24 hours after the U.S. election," he said in the speech, extracts of which were released by the Foreign Ministry.
"Climate change is a challenge that we'll either rise to meet collectively or we will fail collectively," Steinmeier said, adding close European-American cooperation in the fight against global warming is vital to finding solutions.
Germany is a world leader of renewable energy and produces more than half of the world's photovoltaic energy. The European Union plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Obama aims to cut U.S. emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 even though U.S. emissions were 14 percent above 1990 levels in 2006.
Could Obama appoint a "climate czar"?
Reuters | Nov 6, 2008
WASHINGTON - U.S. environmental groups see Barack Obama's presidential victory as a chance to undo the Bush legacy on global warming, and one idea they are discussing is the possibility of a White House "climate czar".
Members of the environmental community in and around Washington say such a post could oversee various government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department, to focus on tackling global warming and fostering clean energy to jump-start the flagging economy.
"For the first time, candidates and voters are really connecting the dots between energy, the environment and the economy," said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club's political director. She said at a news briefing that Obama had made it clear that investing in cleaner energy would be a top priority in his plan for economic recovery.
One way to coordinate these interrelated issues would be to have one person in charge, based at the White House, according to sources in the environmental community familiar with the idea.
They said this could be part of a White House special council on energy and environment, analogous to the National Security Council. This kind of organization could be more effective than the Environmental Protection Agency has been under President George W. Bush, one source said.
Obama made clear in his acceptance speech on Tuesday that he sees climate change as a critical problem, along with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the wilting economy.
"For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century," the Illinois Democratic senator said in Chicago.
Obama also has articulated that the economy, energy and climate change are inter-related problems.