Obama’s Leadership in Creating a New Culture of Climate Change

The summer of 2008 seems deep history by now.  Back then, climate change was feebly engaged by the George W. Bush administration in terms of the now largely forgotten proposal for a Clean Technology Fund.  The Obama administration is confronting climate change through multiple programs.  The White House blog has featured climate change several times:  they note the creation of a new Culture of Climate Change, and tout the double savings of energy efficiency .  The Obama administration has announced a bilateral framework for clean energy with Mexico. The administration is also planning a Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate to take place in Modena, Italy in July of this year.

These White House initiatives are in addition to major commitments to combatting climate change undertaken via the budget process (including major funding for such climate change actions items as renewable energy, biofuels and advanced technologies (see separate post)), and the carbon emissions Cap and Trade legislation currently being hammered out.   For a critical analysis of the Cap and Trade legislation see Martin Feldstein’s editorial in the Washington Post.