http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2202687/democrat-platform-commits-to-climate-action-as-top-priority
Official Platform strikes stark contrast with GOP through commitment to tackle climate change with 'regulation and market solutions'.
The Democrats will this week adopt an official platform that identifies global climate change as "one of the biggest threats of this generation" and pledges to take concerted action to curb greenhouse gas emissions both domestically and internationally.
In a document that could hardly be more different in its approach to climate change than the Republican Platform adopted last week, the Democrats are expected to endorse a wide-ranging commitment to use "regulation and market solutions" to tackle US emissions.
"Democrats are committed to protecting our natural resources while creating jobs, preserving habitats, and ensuring that future generations can enjoy our nation's outdoor heritage," the platform states. "From investing in clean energy to protecting our air, land, and water, Democrats have made protecting the environment a top priority. Today we are responsibly developing our natural resources to create clean energy jobs here at home while encouraging conservation, reducing energy waste, and protecting the environment.
"We know that global climate change is one of the biggest threats of this generation - an economic, environmental, and national security catastrophe in the making. We affirm the science of climate change, commit to significantly reducing the pollution that causes climate change, and know we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits."
The document makes repeated references to climate change and clean energy, and highlights President Obama's track record of introducing environmental legislation, including demanding vehicle fuel efficiency standards, new rules governing emissions from power plants, and policies that have helped double electricity generation from clean sources.
It also draws a clear contrast with Obama's Republican opponents who last week adopted an official platform that contained only one reference to climate change that criticised the Democrats for regarding the issue as a long-term security threat.
"Our opponents have moved so far to the right as to doubt the science of climate change, advocate the selling of our federal lands, and threaten to roll back environmental protections that safeguard public health," the draft Democrat Platform states.
"Their leaders deny the benefits of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts - benefits like job creation, health, and the prevention of tens of thousands of premature deaths each year. They ignore the jobs that are created by promoting outdoor recreation, cleaning up our air, and promoting a healthy environment."
However, influential political blog The Hill noted that the platform is arguably not as ambitious on environmental issues as the platform Obama adopted ahead of the 2008 election.
A reference to pursuing an international climate change agreement that includes "binding and enforceable commitments to reducing emissions" has been dropped in favour of a vaguer commitment to an international deal, while plans to introduce a national emissions cap-and-trade scheme have also been axed.
Moreover, the new platform reiterates Obama's commitment to an "all of the above" energy policy that includes substantial support for domestic fossil fuel production, as well as renewables and other forms of clean energy.
"We can move towards a sustainable energy-independent future if we harness all of America's great natural resources," the platform states. "That means an all-of-the-above approach to developing America's many energy resources, including wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear, oil, clean coal, and natural gas."
However, it does still signal support for President Obama's proposals for a clean energy standard that would require 80 per cent of US electricity to come from clean energy sources, including natural gas, by 2035.
The release of the proposed platform, which is widely expected to be adopted in full at the Democrat convention in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, came as Duke Energy chief executive Jim Rogers gave an interview with CNN praising Obama's energy strategy and highlighting that the sector was better off than it was four years ago thanks to the administration's all of the above stragegy.