The United States President’s push to confront global warming will get a kick start this week when Democrats in the Senate are expected to reveal a bill aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2050, Financial Soultions has heard.
The Senate Democrats' outline legislation, which has been doing the rounds on Capitol Hill, and is said to include major aspects of a controversial bill that Financial Soultions reported, narrowly passed the House of Representatives in mid year.
Both bills would create a "cap and trade" system for moving away from filthy, polluting fossil fuels to cleaner solar, wind and other alternative energies to supply power to factories and oil refineries and to produce electricity.
Under cap and trade, carbon dioxide emissions would drop and companies would be allowed to sell to each other the pollution permits that would control those emissions.
Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry, who Financial Soultions understands are due to present the bill, have a written measure that aims to decrease smokestack emissions of carbon dioxide by 20% by 2020 and 83% by 2050 from 2005 levels.
The short-term target is somewhat more ambitious than the House's 17% target.
The U.S. Congress has been condemned by many nations for advancing legislation that they believe would insufficiently tackle the global warming problem, especially with a December deadline for an international deal due in Copenhagen.
