Climate “Change”?

Will Senator Obama take up the issue in Berlin this week?

Comment, July 22, 2008

Emily Peckenham, Program Officer, FES Washington, D.C.

As in every U.S. presidential election, the candidates must address the concerns of voters, business interests, political partners, and international leaders. This election is no different, with many hot button issues both domestic and international.

The war in Iraq, health care, climate change, education, immigration, Afghanistan, Sudan, energy prices, the housing crises—the list could go on. There are a number of domestic and international cross-cutting issues that John McCain and Barack Obama must address during their intensifying campaigns. In the time period leading up to the Democratic National Convention in August and the Republican Convention in September, the candidates will try to emphasize their positions on these issues and reassure voters of their competency.

Interestingly, one issue that McCain and Obama both seem to agree is important is the issue of climate change, though their proposed plans for dealing with energy issues diverge sharply. While McCain supports expanding energy technologies such as nuclear and “clean coal”, Obama supports increasing renewables, biodiesel, and setting even tighter limits on fuel economy standards, emissions and greenhouse gases.

It could be argued that climate change is the “ultimate cross-cutting issue.” The emission of anthropogenic (human created) greenhouse gases—and its effects—can be examined from economic, political, scientific, and even religious points of view. What is clear is that the impacts of climate change will affect everyone in the industrialized world—and those in developing countries even more so. The nature of climate change necessitates tackling this worldwide problem with a variety of tools, just as the phenomenon itself affects our economies, ways of life, weather systems, and resource struggles.

Both presidential candidates stand to gain by emphasizing the interaction of climate change as a major issue with other top contemporary concerns, such as energy prices, international competition over resources, and economic growth.

Future opportunities to improve energy security in the United States, as well as to improve international relations will require strong action from the next president elect. Unfortunately, with the current administration’s unwillingness to move strongly on creating binding greenhouse gas emission targets--as evidenced by President Bush’s recent crack at the G8--this momentum will take even longer to create. The new administration that takes office in 2009 must select and institute their new colleagues, and it will take time for the team units to coalesce and begin taking action on key issues.

The good news is that both Barack Obama and John McCain have gone on the record supporting initiatives to support the cap and trade system of carbon credit trading. Both candidates are also on record as recognizing the security risks that high energy use and foreign oil dependency cause for the United States. With an eye to the concerns of American voters and businesses, either candidate would do well to emphasize the positive synergy between economic development and energy efficiency, and the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, either candidate could make a smart foreign policy move by endorsing mandatory greenhouse gas emission limits for the United States. This would be a strong signal, which could silence critics of the United States’ hypocrisy, create a real opportunity to take action, and improve the U.S.’s standing in the eyes of the other G8 nations who have made similar efforts to take action.

Will the issue of climate change be addressed during Obama’s visit to Berlin? Europeans and Americans alike will be alert to hear the Democratic candidate’s perspective.