United States Climate Alliance aims to meet or exceed targets of the policy aimed at combating what?
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United States Climate Alliance The United States Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of states and unincorporated self-governing territories in the United States that are committed to upholding the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change within their borders, by achieving the U.S. goal of reducing greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide equivalent) economy-wide emissions 26–28% from 2005 levels by 2025 and meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan.
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Clean Power Plan The Clean Power Plan is an Obama administration policy aimed at combating anthropogenic climate change (global warming) that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. It is widely expected to be eliminated under President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order on March 28, 2017 mandating the EPA to review the plan and following his announcement on June 1, 2017 of United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. In August 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the EPA an additional 60 days to review the CPP and submit their position to the court, before continuing the process to settle the case about the legality of the CPP.
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Climate Positive Development Program The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group’s Climate Positive Development Program (Climate Positive) was launched in May 2009 in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative and the U.S. Green Building Council. The program brings together leading district-scale new-build and regeneration projects working to achieve “Climate Positive”—or net carbon negative—outcomes in cities around the world. As part of the C40’s Sustainable Communities Initiative, it aims to create a model for large-scale urban communities and to support projects that serve as urban laboratories for cities seeking to grow in ways that are environmentally sustainable, climate resilient, and economically viable. Climate Positive is an exclusive program, with a competitive application process, and currently comprises 17 global projects that will collectively reduce the emissions impact of more than one million people. The cities in which the Climate Positive projects are located support the implementation process locally and share best practices globally through participation in the C40 Climate Positive Network., The projects are in different stages of development, but share key characteristics like high densities, highly efficient buildings, mixed-use zoning and transit accessibility.
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Effects of climate change on island nations Climate change is producing drastic changes to Earth processes and changing Earth's environmental status quo. Especially pertinent to human development is the threat of climate change on island nations. As sea levels continue to rise, island peoples and cultures are being threatened. As the former President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Christopher Loeak, noted "In the last year alone, my country has suffered through unprecedented droughts in the north, and the biggest ever king tides in the south; and we have watched the most devastating typhoons in history leave a trail of death and destruction across the region." Efforts to combat theses environmental changes are ongoing and multinational. Particularly notable is the adoption of the Paris agreement at the UN Climate Summit in Paris in 2015, which by no means an unqualified success, is certainly a step in the right direction in regards to fighting the effects of climate by aiming to slow the pace of global warming.
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Directorate-General for Climate Action The Directorate-General for Climate Action or DG CLIMA, established in February 2010, is a department of the European Commission. The current Commissioner is Miguel Arias Cañete. The DG is headed by Jos Delbeke, Director General for Climate Action. Climate change was previously the responsibility of the Directorate-General for the Environment. DG Climate Change participates in international negotiations on climate, helps the European Union to deal with the consequences of climate change and encourages it to meet its targets for 2020. It also develops and implements the EU Emissions Trading System.
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Mandatory renewable energy target Mandatory renewable energy targets are part of government legislated schemes which require electricity retailers to source specific proportions of total electricity sales from renewable energy sources according to a fixed time frame. The purpose of these schemes is to promote renewable energy and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. If this results in an additional cost of electricity, the additional cost is distributed across most customers by increases in other tariffs. The cost of this measure is therefore not funded by government budgets, except for costs of establishing and monitoring the scheme and any audit and enforcement actions. As the cost of renewable energy has become cheaper than other sources, meeting and exceeding a renewable energy target will also reduce the cost of electricity to consumers.
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German Climate Action Plan 2050 The German Climate Action Plan 2050 (German: "Klimaschutzplan 2050" ) is a climate protection policy document approved by the German government on 14November 2016. The plan outlines measures by which Germany can meet its various national greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals through to 2050 (see table) and service its international commitments under the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), under minister Barbara Hendricks, led the development of the plan. The plan was progressively watered down since a draft was first leaked in early-May 2016. Projections from the environment ministry in September 2016 indicate that Germany will likely miss its 2020 climate target.
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National Ambient Air Quality Standards The US National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced \'naks\) are standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under authority of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) that apply for outdoor air throughout the country. Primary standards are designed to protect human health, with an adequate margin of safety, including sensitive populations such as children, the elderly, and individuals suffering from respiratory diseases. Secondary standards are designed to protect public welfare (including effects on soils, water, crops, vegetation, man-made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility, and climate), damage to property, transportation hazards, economic values, and personal comfort and well-being from any known or anticipated adverse effects of a pollutant. A district meeting a given standard is known as an "attainment area" for that standard, and otherwise a "non-attainment area".
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Climate security Climate security describes serious threats to the security and prosperity of countries, due to climate warming, and climate actions to adapt and mitigate impacts.
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Arctic Climate Impact Assessment The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) is a study describing the ongoing climate change in the Arctic and its consequences: rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, unprecedented melting of the Greenland ice sheet, and many impacts on ecosystems, animals, and people. The ACIA is the first comprehensively researched, fully referenced, and independently reviewed evaluation of Arctic climate change and its impacts for the region and for the world. The project was guided by the intergovernmental Arctic Council and the non-governmental International Arctic Science Committee. Three hundred scientists participated in the study over a span of three years.
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War on coal In the United States, the war on coal is a phrase used by the coal industry and its supporters to describe what they claim is an effort by the Obama administration to impose stringent regulations on coal power in the United States and thereby make such power uneconomical. Proponents of this phrase also often identify the Environmental Protection Agency as one of the chief entities waging this putative war, although Michael Grunwald has claimed that the war on coal, although real, does not primarily happen at the national level but at the state and local level, and that the "boots on the ground" in the war are lawyers from the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign. During Obama's tenure, the Obama administration denied that they were waging a war on coal, noting the possibility of upgrading older power plants with more efficient turbines, and also pointing to the possibility of carbon sequestration techniques.
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Climate Change Science Program The Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) was the program responsible for coordinating and integrating research on global warming by U.S. government agencies from February 2002 to June 2009. Toward the end of that period, CCSP issued 21 separate climate assessment reports that addressed climate observations, changes in the atmosphere, expected climate change, impacts and adaptation, and risk management issues. Shortly after President Obama took office, the program's name was changed to U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) which was also the program's name before 2002. Nevertheless, the Obama Administration generally embraced the CCSP products as sound science providing a basis for climate policy. Because those reports were mostly issued after the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and in some cases focused specifically on the United States, they were generally viewed within the United States as having an importance and scientific credibility comparable to the IPCC assessments for the first few years of the Obama Administration.
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Nuclear policy of the United States In general, Nuclear policy of the United States refers to the policies of the various agencies and departments of the American government at the Federal level with regard to biomedical, energy, emergency response, hazardous waste transport and disposal, military, use of radionuclides including US policy with regard to its participation in international treaties, conventions and organizations. Nuclear policy of the United States may also include management and regulation of nuclear levels in air, food, ground water and other potentially hazardous sources.
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Deficit reduction in the United States Deficit reduction in the United States refers to taxation, spending, and economic policy debates and proposals designed to reduce the Federal budget deficit. Government agencies including the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),and the U.S. Treasury Department have reported that the federal government is facing a series of important long-run financing challenges, mainly driven by an aging population, rising healthcare costs per person, and rising interest payments on the national debt.
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Environmental protection Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the natural environment on individual, organisation controlled or governmental levels, for the benefit of both the environment and humans. Due to the pressures of overconsumption , population and technology, the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently. This has been recognized, and governments have begun placing restraints on activities that cause environmental degradation. Since the 1960s, activity of environmental movements has created awareness of the various environmental problems. There is no agreement on the extent of the environmental impact of human activity and even scientific dishonesty occurs, so protection measures are occasionally debated.
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Vote Climate U.S. PAC Vote Climate U.S. PAC is an American super PAC founded in 2013 and directed by American political activist Karyn Strickler. Its mission is "to elect candidates to get off fossil fuels, transition to clean, renewable energy and put a price on carbon, in order to slow global warming and related weather extremes." Strickler has named the implementation of a carbon tax as a principal goal. As a super PAC (a type of political action committee), the organization cannot contribute to candidates but can make independent expenditures on their behalf.
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Climate Change Performance Index The Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) is an annual publication by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe. It evaluates the climate protection performance of 58 countries, responsible for over 90% of global energy-related CO emissions. CCPI 2013 publication covers CO emissions from the fossil fuels, except emissions from the shipping industry. Following CCPI 2013 publication may include emissions from deforestation, agriculture and waste. 50% of the evaluation is based on emissions trend, 30% on emissions level and 20% on national and international climate policy assessments made by more than 200 experts. The most recent results (published December 2014) illustrate that efforts are still insufficient to prevent dangerous climate change. Thus, no country received rankings one to three in the results for 2015 although Denmark which topped the list was praised for its efforts.
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Protectionism in the United States Protectionism in the United States is protectionist economic policy that erected tariff and other barriers to trade with other nations. This policy was most prevalent in the 19th century. It attempted to restrain imports to protect Northern industries. It was opposed by Southern states that wanted free trade to expand cotton and other agricultural exports. Protectionist measures included tariffs and quotas on imported goods, along with subsidies and other means, to ensure fair competition between imported goods and local goods. In today's age the US is still highly protectionist, according to Global Trade Alert the US has adopted over 1000 protectionist measures since the Global Economic Crisis in 2008, more than any other country since.
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Federal Roofing Tax Credit for Energy Efficiency The 2009 roofing tax credit is part of a twofold plan rolled out by the United States Federal government. The first and most relevant of goals was intended to stimulate the economy by incentivizing Americans to replace their roofs with more energy efficient roofs, thereby creating jobs by increasing the demand for labor in the roofing, manufacturing, and construction industries. The other goal of the 2009 Federal Roofing Tax Credit was to reduce carbon emissions to the environment by requiring consumers to install Energy Star products on their homes in order to receive the tax credit; the installation of Energy Star roofing products in homes would reduce the consumption of electricity needed to maintain the desired temperature within the residence.
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Climate change in California California has taken legislative steps towards reducing the possible effects of climate change by incentives and plans for clean cars, renewable energy, and stringent caps on big polluting industries.
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Climate, Community &amp; Biodiversity Alliance The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) is an initiative led by Conservation International, CARE, The Nature Conservancy, Rainforest Alliance, and the Wildlife Conservation Society to promote the development of land management activities that simultaneously deliver significant benefits for climate, local communities, and biodiversity.
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United Nations Office for Partnerships The United Nations Office for Partnerships (UNOP) strives to serve as a gateway for public-private partnerships in furtherance of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Office oversees the following areas: