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Climate Policy
House Vote on Waxman Markey Climate Legislation
In a bipartisan vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed landmark legislation, June 26, 2009, that would constitute America’s biggest step to date in responding to the energy and climate crises. Through this historic vote, Congress takes the key first step towards a clean energy future.
“This bill is not everything we need, but it is a critical starting point, at a crucial time,” said WWF President and CEO Carter Roberts. “We are seeing the impacts of climate change right in our own backyards. And they are coming faster and hitting harder than anticipated. From heat waves in the South, to flooding rains in the Midwest, to drought in the West, every region of this country is feeling the dangerous and costly consequences of climate change. We have to get started, and this bill would represent an unprecedented leap forward".
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), would place a national limit on greenhouse gas pollution that declines over time, while setting up a market-based framework to bring down emissions in an economically efficient manner.
It would also launch an effort to begin preparing communities across the U.S. to cope with the impacts that are unavoidable given the changes we are already experiencing.It is critical the U.S. pass a strong climate bill this year in order to demonstrate U.S. leadership on the issue prior to international climate negotiations that will take place this December in Copenhagen. The bill includes particular provisions that are essential to reaching an agreement in Copenhagen.
Holly Beach, La., October 3, 2005 - Nothing is left of the Gulfside community of Holly Beach, once called home by 300 residents as well as thousands of tourists and fishermen. Hiurricane Rita destroyed these and other structures all along Highway 27 which skirts the Gulf of Mexico in lower Cameron Parish.
© Win Henderson / FEMA
The bill includes provisions that are essential to reaching an agreement in Copenhagen. It would make critical investments in stopping tropical deforestation, the source of roughly 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions; would promote technology cooperation between the U.S. and developing countries to help lower emissions world-wide; and would help the world’s most vulnerable people and communities respond to existing and future impacts from climate change.
Adaptation
It is imperative that we take action to conserve ecosystems in their changed environment. WWF is developing and implementing climate adaptation projects with local communities, government agencies, local conservation and research groups, national organizations, and others.
Learn more about these adaptation projects Marine projects | Terrestrial projects | Species projects
Cost of inaction
The passage of the bill comes just days after the release of three major government reports that make clear that there is no time to waste and no reason not to act: a report issued last week by the White House noted that climate change impacts are already being felt in every region of the country and will increase in severity if action is not taken, while analyses released earlier this week by both the Congressional Budget Office and the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that the cost to the average American household of implementing the climate bill would be less than 50 cents day.
Neither the CBO nor EPA studies factored in cost savings that would result from the bill’s mandated improvements in energy efficiency or the additional costs to consumers of unmitigated climate impacts. After adding in those two factors, American households would see significant net savings under the climate bill
Learn more about how WWF is addressing the threat of the changing climate
- Read the press release
- Links to additional resources
- Pushing for Global Action in the U.S.
- Climate for Life - WWF's year-long campaign to bring the world’s attention to the impacts of global climate change in the Eastern Himalayas.
- Transforming global markets for a sustainable future
- What you can do
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Keya Chatterjee
WWF US Acting Director, Climate Change Program"We have to learn how to develop in a way that decouples pollution from prosperity"
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