More than hot air

摘要

Before a major speech on the subject last week, it had been two years since US President Barack Obama last waded into the complex arena of energy and climate change. His emphasis then was on an 'all-of-the-above' approach that put oil and natural gas on an even keel with alternative energy sources. But on 25 June, citing "the overwhelming judgement of science", as well as the country's founding fathers, who charged political leaders "to make decisions with an eye on a longer horizon than the arc of our own political careers", Obama broke a long silence on global warming. The centrepiece of the president's speech was a pledge to regulate carbon emissions from power plants new and old. The power sector produces some 40% of total US emissions, and administration officials have long said that they would fill the regulatory void if Congress failed to act. Although Obama did not make any specific promises last week, he did lay out a schedule and put the full weight of the White House behind these efforts, which is what they need and deserve.