A change of climate you can believe in

At this moment in time, it probably ranks about third place in his in-tray, behind the economy and two ongoing wars. But the environment, to many, easily surpasses these two dominant problems. To effectively tackle climate change, President Obama will need two things: money and political will. Unfortunately he doesn’t have the former yet but an economic recovery will see to that. The political will is there, but Americans fear terrorism and nuclear conflict over climate change at this moment in time. Dealing with these two threats will force the possibility of environmental disaster up the domestic agenda. To many, climate change represents a superior threat, but reflecting the problems facing the United States, it is languishing in third at the moment.

Obama has hit the ground running on every other issue, and today it was the environment. Reversing years of Bush neglect, Obama has embarked on a sweeping range of policies to cut emissions. These include allowing individual states to set their own limits of emissions and imposing fuel efficiency standard on the nation‘s carmakers. Obama also reiterated his campaign pledge to reduce US dependence on foreign oil.

The Obama administration has set out a comprehensive New Energy for America plan. This will create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion in clean technology; significantly reduce imports from the Middle East and Venezuela; expand plug-in Hybrid cars throughout the US; increase the proportion of electricity from renewable sources; develop an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. The first aspect of this plan: job creation and economic development is a masterstroke. It will clearly help America out of the recession, but it also appeals to those American capitalist ideals - enterprise and wealth creation. The Obama plan could create a first generation of enviro-capitalists.

The holy green nexus of clean technology and commerce represents a future for the American economy. It has been noticed by wealthy Arab states, who are embarking on similar projects. Is this the solution to the two critical problems of the day? Climate change and economic uncertainty.

The response to this challenge is due to be included in his $825bn stimulus package. The dire state of the US economy will mean tight restrictions on emissions may not be feasible, at this moment in time at least. Carmakers are also in a dire financial position, so imposing fuel efficiency regulations will also be difficult.

The last eight years have been full of frustration and inaction. The tone for the next four (and hopefully eight) years has been set. Shortly after his election victory, Obama was unequivocal: “Now is the time to confront this challenge once and for all, delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.” In his inauguration speech he emphasised that the United States would "roll back the spectre of a warming planet" and "restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its cost[…]harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” This direct message contrasts to UK environmental policy which seems at best contradictory and counterproductive, at worse linked to big business interests.

Creating a successor to the Kyoto Protocol will be a priority for Obama. The next global gathering in 2009 is the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. This might be too long to wait. Domestically any agreement through Congress may be difficult. Republican opposition might be added to by Democrats, wary of the impact on employment and the economy, especially in blue collar states.

One key difference between this administration and the previous - when it comes to the environment - is its indebtedness to corporate interests. Whereas the Bush administration was beholden to oil corporates, as seen in his campaigns where the vast majority of donations came from corporate executives and in some extremely dubious influence on energy policy by oil companies like Exxon Mobil. Obama pursued a grass roots fundraising strategy and his corporate links lie in technology, banking and universities.

The final development of energy policy under Obama is the change of personnel within DoE. The new Secretary Steven Chu is a strong advocate of alternative energy and nuclear, as an alternative to fossil fuels. Placing a Nobel winning scientist at the heart of energy policy shows that ideology and cronyism no longer will determine decisions in this critical department. Scientific fact will be the new mantra. The State department will also have a climate change envoy and, who knows, Al Gore might even be asked to help.