President Obama, looking to burnish his credentials as a global environmental figure at a summit for world leaders in Pittsburgh, looks to satisfy his international counterparts without intensifying domestic economic worries.
The Group of 20 gathering, largely focused on international economic issues, will include a pitch by Obama to phase out fossil fuel subsidies as part of an effort to reduce carbon emissions.
But Obama, who disappointed environmentalists and some fellow world leaders at the United Nations this week by sidestepping firm commitments or a timetable on U.S. climate change efforts, appears destined to come up short again.
“He is going to be all hat and no cattle,” said Patrick J. Michaels, a senior fellow of environmental studies at the Cato Institute. “He really doesn’t have much to take to the G-20 that is concrete.”
A cap-and-trade bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, and appears further in doubt after a new Congressional Budget Office report warned the measure could hurt employment and growth.
“Reducing the risk of climate change would come at some cost to the economy,” the nonpartisan CBO said.
The budget office estimated the House bill would reduce gross domestic product by between 1 percent and 3.5 percent below expected levels in 2050.
The CBO called the potential reduction “modest,” however, noting that adjusted GDP for 2050 is expected to be about 2.5 percent higher than it is now.
The CBO also noted that a move away from carbon-producing industries would reduce employment “a little,” since labor markets would not be able to easily adjust to shifting demands.
Although relatively minor, the CBO’s conclusions further complicate Obama’s efforts to get cap and trade passed.
In addition to providing ammunition to opponents, the economic cautions contained in the report are political trouble for Obama in key electoral states like Michigan, Ohio and other carbon emissions hot spots, which already have higher-than-average unemployment rates.
Once a significant administration priority, reducing emissions and instituting a cap and trade program for industry have largely been eclipsed by White House efforts to pass health care reform.
Michael Crocker, a spokesman for Greenpeace, said Obama was facing “skepticism” from other world leaders over the cap-and-trade bill, particularly in light of efforts by major polluters like China and India to address their emissions problems.
“What he could do at this meeting is put some money on the table” to help developing countries avoid the carbon gas pitfalls of the industrialized world, Crocker said.
Instead, Obama is calling for a phaseout of tax breaks and direct payments to producers of oil, coal, natural gas and other fuels. The move is aimed at curbing harmful emissions, encouraging energy independence and the development of alternative sources of energy.
