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The Week in Germany: Business, Technology and the Environment July 20, 2007 Florida to Partner with Germany on Climate Protection
As part of his move to place his state at the vanguard of the movement to protect the climate, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed agreements with Germany and the United Kingdom to partner on climate policy at a summit in Miami on July 12-13. With a comprehensive packet of climate initiatives, Crist added Florida to a growing list of states that are taking direct action on the climate issue. “Germany and the United Kingdom are recognized as worldwide leaders in actively addressing global climate change,” Crist said at a climate change summit in Miami. The agreement calls for talks with Germany regarding the establishment of a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012. The two nations will also explore options for linking markets for emissions certificates in Florida and Germany. Currently, the EU has the world’s only mandatory emissions trading market for greenhouse gases. Florida and Germany also hope to reap economic benefits from the cooperation by concentrating on opportunities for trade in renewable energy technologies and energy efficient products. The two parties also called for exchanges of climate scientists and research partnerships. State secretary Matthias Machnig from the German Environment Ministry, who signed the agreement for Germany, said that he saw Governor Crist’s climate initiative as a signal of positive change in America. “It’s what I would call a new consensus.” In addition to the partnership agreements, Crist signed three executive orders that set concrete targets for reducing greenhouse gases. Florida’s state government will reduce its emissions 40 percent by 2025, and electric utilities in the state will have to trim their emissions back to 1990 levels in the same time period. Florida also plans to adopt California’s tough proposed emissions standards, which will require a 30 percent reduction in emissions by 2016 if the EPA approves the plan. Renewable energies will also play a role in Florida’s climate conversion. The state wants to push utilities to generate 20 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Germany is on track to meet the same goal under its Renewable Energies Act. Although Crist received praise from environmental leaders for his initiatives, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stole many of the headlines at the summit. “We have to say ‘hasta la vista, baby’ to greenhouse gases”, he said at a luncheon speech. Schwarzenegger has also pursued transatlantic cooperation on climate issues and advocated emissions trading between California and the EU. In August 2006, he met with Tony Blair to discuss a California-UK climate partnership. The former “Terminator” star called the Florida Governor “another great action hero” for joining California and a number of other states in the Northeast and Southwest in taking action on climate. Schwarzenegger said that the states were taking the lead on the issue. “We can sign the treaties with the European Union and the G8 that the president didn’t sign. We want to sign these treaties” he said, as quoted by Reuters. Links: Full Text of the Agreement in English from the German Environment Ministry Florida Climate Summit Website: “Serve to Preserve” Possible
EU Climate Cooperation with California and Northeastern states (TWIG,
October 27, 2007) |
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