"It’s About Laws, Not Light Bulbs"

An editorial from the New York Times

The issue of climate change is now in a sad state of political and legislative suspension, awaiting an election, a new president and a new Congress.

The first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s historic decision ordering the regulation of greenhouse gases came and went last week without any action by the administration, forcing state governors and other plaintiffs in the case to return to court to compel a response.

In the Senate, Joseph Lieberman continued to speak hopefully of getting a veto-proof majority for a bill he is co-sponsoring with John Warner to start capping emissions across the entire economy. Yet time is running short to get such an ambitious program right, and in any case, there is no movement in the House.

As it has for years, America’s inertia remains in sharp contrast to the work by Europe, which took an early lead in efforts to curb global warming by establishing the world’s most comprehensive carbon management system. Recently, Europeans pledged to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. More important, they proposed to tighten the rules for allocating pollution allowances to make emitters pay the government for these allowances instead of getting them for free. This would eliminate the windfall profits that plagued the system in the beginning while raising large sums of money to invest in new and cleaner ways of producing energy.

The Lieberman-Warner bill would also set ambitious targets, establish a system of tradeable allowances and require investments in new technologies. The difference is that Europe’s program is in business, whereas America’s best ideas are still on paper.

Therein lies the motivation for Al Gore’s latest climate change initiative. Though the next occupant of the White House will improve on President Bush — all three major-party candidates have endorsed federal limits on greenhouse gases — Mr. Gore is taking no chances. Last week he announced a three-year, $300 million campaign to build awareness of the dangers of climate changes and light a fire under Washington.

Mr. Gore’s ambition is not just to change individual behavior by getting people to buy energy-saving light bulbs: it is to change policy. Whether he can compete with the public’s preoccupations with war and the economy is unclear, but it is certainly worth the effort.