Climate Policy Program: Recent and Upcoming Events

For the first time in more than a generation, President Obama is rewriting America's energy policy through a wide-ranging hodgepodge of initiatives including: stimulus funds, the rescue of the auto industry, EPA regulations, FERC initiatives, domestic climate change legislation, international agreements like the Copenhagen round, biofuel and plug-in hybrid mandates, and many smaller tax incentives and subsidies. The piecemeal nature of these changes makes them seem smaller than they are, and makes their impact--both positive

Following up on last year's successful Summit, we will continue to expand our network of subnational collaboration to stimulate economic growth, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, create green jobs, promote clean energy solutions, and reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

President Barack Obama has touted a robust green energy sector as our best chance of jumpstarting the economy, putting Americans back to work, and securing our nation's standing in a post-carbon world. Yet the renewable energy industry has been among the hardest hit by the current downturn.

New America's Climate Policy Program was a major organizer and sponsor of the Governors' Global Climate Summit, held Nov. 18-19 in Los Angeles, which broght together leaders from the United States, Canada, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, the EU and other key regions of the world. Via taped message, President-Elect Obama used the summit to make his first statement on climate change -- declaring that he would establish annual targets to reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020… more

With sustainability at the top of the world’s agenda, the global business landscape is changing fast. Staying ahead of the curve requires dynamic leadership and systemic solutions that deliver solid financial, social and environmental results.

This discussion was hosted jointly by the New America Foundation and Business for Social Responsibility.

Though the southern border tends to be a focal point for debates about immigration, the anxiety that many Americans express is really about whether integration happens after people have crossed our country's borders. The question of immigrant integration is nowhere more relevant than in California, where more than one in four residents is foreign born. On Friday July 25th, Dr. Tomás Jiménez will discuss the state of immigrant integration amongst California's newcomers and their descendents. He will… more

The G-8 recently endorsed cutting global emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2050 and called for nations around the world to set midterm reduction targets. What role do U.S. states play in this process and what steps should they take? New America Climate Policy Director Terry Tamminen and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger David Crane will give an overview of state and federal policies to date, while discussing the steps that California and other states can take… more

In an era of increasingly high oil and gas prices, concerns about CO2 emissions, and uncertainty about the security of supply, energy policy has come to dominate political discourse around the world. To date, the energy debate has centered largely on how to secure future energy supply and how to finance research into alternative sources of fuel. While these concerns are important, no energy policy will succeed without first mining our immense energy efficiency opportunities. After all, what's the point… more