McCain’s May speech on climate change
John McCain gave a speech on climate change on 12 May at the Vestas Training Facility in Portland, Oregon, that contained new details on how he would combat global warming through a cap-and-trade scheme and a stronger reliance on nuclear power. The day after he gave his speech, the first given on climate change by a presidential candidate in recent months, McCain held a press conference on the issue at which he stated that his two Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, "have never to my knowledge been involved in legislation nor hearings nor engagement in this issue."
McCain has a history in the Senate of supporting some climate change and environmental issues. As part of a Senate delegation, he and Hillary Clinton had travelled in 2004 to Svalbard, Norway to see the effects of climate change on Arctic glaciers.
In 2007 McCain and Senator Joseph Lieberman introduced bill S. 280 to reduce emissions. The bill was cosponsored by Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama.
Brief highlights of McCain's speech include the following:
- Stated that reducing US dependence on fossil fuels is not only a climate issue but a national security issue because “a large share of the world's oil reserves is controlled by foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart. And as our reliance on oil passes away, their power will vanish with it.”
- Agreed that global warming demands “urgent attention” by the US government.
- Stated that “we have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming, or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters, and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring.”
McCain pointed out that the changing climate will force federal and state governments to modify how they repair and construct roads, bridges, railways, seawalls, and other infrastructure.
He proposed mandating that the US government consistently apply the best environmental standards to every purchase the government makes as an incentive to make low-carbon and energy conversation technologies popular and cheaper.
McCain’s call for more investment in nuclear power, by building new plants and developing technology to extend the life of existing reactors, is a distinct difference between between his and the Democratic candidates' proposals.
McCain pointed out that the 104 US nuclear reactors directly reduce US CO2 emissions by 700 million metric tons per year, assuming they replace fossil-fuel power plants. [Editor's note: According to the US Department of Energy, that number is incorrect. The Office of Nuclear Energy says that those plants save the equivalent of 175 million tons of CO2 per year (see pages 12 and 13 of the linked nuclear primer).]
“It doesn't take a leap in logic to conclude that if we want to arrest global warming, then nuclear energy is a powerful ally in that cause,” he said.
To tackle rising CO2 emissions, McCain proposed a cap-and-trade system in which companies would be given carbon 'credits' and have the right to sell off excess emission quotas. That he believed, would provide an incentive to energy companies in particular to reduce their emissions and make nuclear power more attractive to the energy sector.
The two climate plans offered by Clinton and Obama call for carbon credits to initially be sold at cost to industry, not provided free as under the McCain proposal.
McCain's cap-and-trade system would also include agriculture; it would provide incentives for farmers to switch to planting low-carbon crops or set-asides instead of raising cattle and pigs, which produce large quantities of methane, another heat-trapping gas.
McCain proposed that by 2012 the US should return to 2005 emission levels, by 2020, should be at 1990 levels, and by 2050 should be 60% below 1990 levels.
The two Democratic candidates hope to achieve by 2050 emission output that is 80% below 1990 levels, which is the recommendation of many climate scientists.
McCain blamed the failure of the Kyoto Protocols on the lack of caps for developing countries such as China, which now emits more CO2 than the US. “Shared dangers mean shared duties, and global problems require global cooperation,” said McCain. “No nation should be exempted from its obligations. And least of all should we make exceptions for the very countries that are accelerating carbon emissions while the rest of us seek to reduce emissions.”
McCain proposed providing low-carbon technologies to China under an agreement similar to that in the Kyoto Protocol. He added, “If the efforts to negotiate an international solution that includes China and India do not succeed, we still have an obligation to act.”
McCain stated that he intends to apply US environmental standards to industries in China, India, and other developing countries. If they evade these standards, he would work with the European Union and others to engage those countries through such measures as diplomacy and technology transfers.
The full text of his speech is below the fold. More information can be found here.
