Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Climate Leaders Conference: Day 2

Today was very productive and full of great sessions. I'll share some notes.

* Tracking of regulatory and legislative pending changes is challenging.
Lots of activity. and good overview by Reid Harvey, Chief, Implementation Branch, U.S. EPA. His highlights:
  • Supreme Court: ruling in April: Mass vs. EPA. Court said EPA must re-consider if it can regulate;
  • Presidential Goals to EPA: set goal to reduce gas consumption in US by 20% in 10 years via vehicles and fuels
  • Congress:12(!) Cap and trade bills. Lieberman-Warner (S.2191) and Lieberman-McCain (S.290) are most active; Energy Bill (rumored presidential veto if it moves forward); Mandatory GHG Reporting (in Senate appropriations)
  • State Level: Regional GHG Initiatives are very promising (New England, Midwest, West); Multi-state climate registry as well as individual states; California registry and other initiatives coming faster than any other state by far
  • General sense of mandatory reporting: Federal level probably in 2009; states will have quiltwork at numerous state levels. CA first state to be mandatory (2008). Consencous of room was that EPA would be agency that would run mandatory reporting and/or regulation


* CL Case Studies Highlight Impressive Results and Lessons Learned from Early Leaders
Case studies and progress reports were shared by FGL Group, Caterpillar, and Roche, and site visits (had to chose one) at Coors, Ball Aerospace, EPA Region 8 HQ, and National Renewable Energy Lavatory. Impressive results by all of these early adopters and leaders. Biggest challenges implementing CL were getting funding, conducting GHG inventory (especially around more complex situations of manufacturing processes, partially owned assets, etc.), and goal determination (intensity level, absolute, etc.). A number of companies surpassed initial set of goals. While most companies limited scope to the US, Caterpillar set global goals and implemented global GHG reduction programs (their case study also highlighted challenges and opportunities for global, heavy manufacturing company in 40 countries)




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