Carbon commitments by nations attending the United Nations Conference on Climate Change won’t keep temperatures from rising, but Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz says they will create an atmosphere that could help meet climate change challenges.
Moniz acknowledged the efforts of the 150 countries attending the Paris talks are projected to limit the increase in global temperatures to 2.7 degrees Celsius. Scientists widely predict anything more than a 2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures would lead to devastating consequences.
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Those commitments aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of climate change, however, Moniz said. Those commitments may end up leading to a friendlier political atmosphere for green energy technology that could end up limiting temperature rise to the necessary level.
“With continued cost reduction, what we would see is that enabling ambition as time goes on,” he said. “That notion has certainly been assured as time goes on by our international partners.”
Moniz, speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, made his last public remarks Friday before heading to Paris for the climate change conference. Moniz heads to France next week for meetings before the U.N. conference that starts Nov. 30.
It’s an international example of the Obama administration’s belief that clean energy technology eventually will help limit the effects of climate change. Many scientists blame the greenhouse gases emitted from burning fossil fuels for causing climate change.
Environmental Protection Agency officials have said they believe advances in technology will help states and local governments meet carbon dioxide and ozone pollution goals set by the federal government. Administration officials often say that advances in technology that haven’t been invented will help limit emissions from fossil fuels in a cost-effective way.
Moniz said Friday the administration will focus on urging other countries to move quickly with policies that will enable the development of clean energy sources.
“Our approach [at Paris] is going to be very technology focused,” Moniz said. “We are advancing the theme that energy technology innovation, and the resultant cost reductions in energy technology, are ultimately the key to meeting our climate challenges.”
President Obama said last week the United States needs to lead by example at the Paris talks, and part of that means moving quickly on policies that could affect climate change.
Moniz said the regulations recently passed down by the Obama administration are an example of the need to act quickly. He said Obama has emphasized multiple times that he’s willing to work with Congress on solutions to climate change, but the need for swift action is such that executive powers had to be used rather than legislative ones.
“We cannot afford to sit back and expect the characteristic 50-year time frame usually needed for historical changes in the energy system,” Moniz said.
“We’d love to work with Congress on a legislative approach … however, we don’t have time to wait.”
