US: Consortium proposes climate-protection plan

A consortium of 26 corporations and five environmental groups has asked federal policymakers to enact what it terms as "a regulated economy-wide, market-driven approach to climate protection"

In testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on 15 January, representatives of the US Climate Action Partnership (Uscap) presented A Blueprint for Legislative Action – a detailed plan for reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 80% from 2005 levels by 2050, which, it says, are "aggressive emissions-reduction targets that can be achieved at manageable costs to the economy." The group proposes achieving this goal through a mandatory cap-and-trade programme that would allow refineries, power plants and other industrial facilities to comply with federal emissions limits by buying and selling allowances to release GHGs. Under a cap-and-trade programme, federal regulators would a