Ongoing Domestic Climate Change Programs
There are dozens of win-win climate change programs and initiatives put
into place by President Clinton since 1993. These investments aim to develop
and deploy energy efficient technologies and spur the development and broader
use of renewable energy. These efforts have accelerated and expanded since the
Kyoto climate change conference in 1997. Sustaining this commitment to reducing
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions has been a focused effort by President Clinton to
invest in the research, development, and deployment of energy efficiency
technologies and renewable energy — an area whose budget in the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE) has exceeded $800 million each and every year of the
Clinton Administration.
The centerpiece of President Clinton's domestic climate change
program is the Climate Change Technology Initiative (CCTI) — a
package of targeted tax incentives and investments aimed at increasing energy
efficiency and spurring broader use of renewable energy. The package will save
consumers money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. CCTI
investments have totaled over $1 billion each of the past two years. The
President's FY 2001 budget proposes a still more accelerated effort.
Highlights of CCTI's proposed $4.0 billion tax package (over 5 years)
include:
-
Tax credits for energy efficient homes.
Consumers would
receive $1,000- $2,000 credit toward the purchase of a new energy efficient
home; a 20 percent tax credit for the purchase of selected energy efficient
products for their homes and buildings; and a $1,000-$2,000 credit for
installing a solar energy system.
-
Tax credits for fuel-efficient cars.
The package extends
the current tax credit (of up to $4000) through 2006 for qualified electric and
fuel cell vehicles and also include a tax credit of $500 - $3000 for the
purchase of a qualifying hybrid vehicle from 2003-2006.
-
Tax credits for clean energy.
The package extends the 1.5
cents per kilowatt hour tax credit for the production of electricity from wind
and closed-loop biomass; provides credits for open-loop biomass facilities and
coal biomass cofiring; and provides credits for electricity produced from
methane from certain landfills.
The following survey highlights the most important U.S. climate change
programs and initiatives, most of which are administered by the DOE, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and/or the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA). Together, the programs cover the four major greenhouse
gas-emitting sectors of the U.S. economy (buildings, transportation, industry,
and electricity), and carbon sequestration and agriculture.
|
