Kerry: US Will Have Cap & Trade by End of the Year

[Mass]

I wished it was possible, because it would be a huge progress. I guess I am a little bit skeptical because of the GOP blockroads, but just seeing resolve is such a huge step in the right direction.

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2009/02/kerry_us_will_have_cap_trade_b.php

At sustainability conference, global leaders wonder where the investments will come from to build a green economy.

by Gaia Vince • Posted February 5, 2009 02:02 PM

Nobel laureate and IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri at the Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi. Courtesy: Nick Pattinson.

NEW DELHI  —  "This is the worst time in the world to go to a government minister and say "please sir can I have some money for climate change," UNFCC head Yvo de Boer told delegates at the Sustainable Development Summit, which opened Thursday in Delhi.

...

Sen. John Kerry, who spoke via video link from Washington, DC, said he was "stuck, due to a little matter of an $850 billion recovery plan I have to vote on this evening." Kerry announced, "America is back. America intends to lead on these issues after years on the sidelines of climate change negotiations."

Nobel laureate and IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri responded to Sen. Kerry's presentation by saying, "There must be some demonstration of this new desire and resolve to lead."

"I believe we will have a cap and trade program set up by the end of this year," Kerry replied. "The US will lead by example." But he warned that "the Senate will not sign on a treaty that doesn't involve developing countries making some kind of contribution." And he pointed out that India's climate plan, announced last year by the prime minister, was notably lacking in fixed commitments and timetables. "We are collectively falling short," Kerry said. Borrowing the phraseology of 17th-century American crisis management, he said, "We must all hang together or we will all hang separately."

and here is the link to the remarks

http://kerry.senate.gov/cfm/record.cfm?id=307767

Hello everyone, this is Senator John Kerry. I had hoped to be with you in person today, standing alongside my dear friend Dr. Pachauri. Votes in the Senate on our economic recovery package may be keeping me in Washington, but nothing can keep me from standing in solidarity with all of you in our fight for to deal with the reality of global climate change.

And this morning I address you with a simple message: America is back. After years on the sidelines, the United States is determined to address climate change. Our new President and our new Congress will actively reengage with the global community to solve this challenge. But make no mistake – global climate change waits for no man and respects no border, and we cannot solve this crisis without the committed participation of all the nations of the world.

Today we are ten months from negotiating the follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, and people everywhere have high expectations --– and they should. Delegates will meet in March and June to prepare language to be finalized in Copenhagen this December as the basis of a new global treaty. There is no time to waste.

Don’t take my word for it, just look at the science: the most critical trends and facts all point in the wrong direction. CO2 emissions grew four times faster during the last eight years than they did in the 1990s. Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a series of projections for global emissions, based on likely energy and land use patterns. Well, today emissions have actually moved beyond the worst case scenarios predicted by all of the IPCC’s models! Our oceans and forests are losing their natural ability soak up and store greenhouse gases, and we are seeing a climate forcing signal arriving stronger and faster than expected.