ACES: More than just a climate bill

I’ve selected the adaptation portions of a Juliana Williams article from It’s Getting Hot in Here: The first draft of the American Clean Energy and Energy Security Act of 2009 (ACES) was released yesterday (full text here, summary here).

….This bill is far from perfect. Beyond the massive investment in carbon capture and storage, the weak emissions reductions targets, the reliance on offsets and industry giveaways for emissions credits, and lack of clarity on how the revenue from an emissions cap would be spent, ACES will likely be watered down through negotiation, committee markups and amendments on the House floor. It starts of from a place of compromise and will almost certainly be transformed through further pressure from the fossil fuel industries and the politicians they have in their pockets.

However, ACES includes a remarkable amount of attention towards the transition, including adaptation to the effects of climate change, formally working with developing countries to share low-carbon technologies and insulating American industries from shocks during this transition. While the Green Jobs section is rather wimpy, the final section begins to address the path forward beyond calling for reductions limits.

….Adapting to Global Warming. The draft establishes an interagency council to ensure an integrated federal response to the effects of global warming. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is directed to conduct vulnerability assessments and establish a National Climate Service. Each federal agency is directed to prepare an adaptation plan, review climate impacts on matters within its jurisdiction, and develop plans for addressing those impacts. The draft establishes a climate change adaptation fund to provide federal support for state, local, and tribal adaptation projects and a natural resources climate change adaptation panel to coordinate interagency actions on natural resources adaptation. The draft also requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate a national strategy for adapting to the public health effects of climate change.

To address international adaptation issues, the draft creates an International Climate Change Adaptation Program within USAID to provide U.S. assistance to the most vulnerable developing countries for adaptation to climate change….

The dome of the US Capitol