Hill Heat

Witnesses

Panel 1

• Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
• Kevin Book, Senior Analyst and Senior Vice President, Friedman Billings Ramsey & Company, Inc.
• Malcolm Woolf, Director, Maryland Energy Association
• Joe Loper, Vice President of Policy and Research, Alliance to Save Energy
• Steve Hauser, Vice President, GridPoint

Panel 2

• Dr. Cassandra Moseley, Director of the Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon
• Mark Limbaugh, Former Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior
• Denis Galvin, Former Deputy Director, National Park Service

12/10/2008 at 09:30AM

As Congress considers a multi-billion dollar program of loans to America’s auto industry, many measures of success or failure exist for the industry and the government’s attempts to help the automakers. Chief among those measures of success is how effectively America’s auto industry, and the industry as a whole, is transformed to build cars for the future that reduce our dependence on oil. Will the auto industry meet the fuel economy rules passed by Congress and signed into law nearly a year ago, which could revitalize the industry? Should American taxpayers expect even higher fuel economy performance in return for their investment of additional billions in loans? Do the auto companies’ plans impair their ability to meet the current fuel economy regime?

A panel of auto industry and fuel economy experts will discuss these issues and other energy implications of the automotive industry loan program at a hearing tomorrow before Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Chairman Markey authored the House language that became the current fuel economy standards of at least 35 mile per gallon by 2020.

Today an analysis of the car companies’ own data revealed that General Motors and Ford are now positioned to comply with California’s landmark global warming standards if they are applied nationwide, which could represent a significant increase in fuel economy. According to the analysis of the companies’ data released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the two major automakers are in a position to meet the California global warming tailpipe standards. This analysis is important because some lawmakers in the House and Senate have proposed imposing a condition on the auto bailout that would grant the California waiver or prohibit the automakers from fighting the waiver in court or in state legislatures.

Witnesses

• Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen
• Reuben Munger, Chairman and Co-founder, Bright Automotive
• Dr. Peter Morici, Professor of International Business, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
• Geoff Wardle, Director of Advanced Mobility Research, Art Center College of Design
• Richard Curless, Chief Technical Officer, MAG Industrial Automation Systems

12/09/2008 at 10:00AM

You are invited to a briefing which will discuss a phased-in, revenue-neutral national carbon tax as a policy option for addressing climate change. This briefing is sponsored by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), the Carbon Tax Center, the Climate Crisis Coalition, Friends Committee on National Legislation and Friends of the Earth.

The briefing will focus on the environmental, economic, economic-efficiency, logistical and political benefits of a national carbon tax, particularly one that is phased-in and revenue-neutral. Many economists have called for enactment of a carbon tax as the simplest, easiest to administer and most transparent approach to carbon pricing, despite the conventional wisdom that a “cap and trade” regime is key to a political consensus.

Speakers for this event include:

• Rep. John B. Larson (D-CT)
• James Hansen, PhD, Director, Goddard Institute of Space Studies, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• James Hoggan, British Columbia Public Affairs Advisor; Chair, David Suzuki Foundation
• Gilbert Metcalf, PhD, Professor of Economics, Tufts University; Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research
• Robert Shapiro, PhD, Co-Founder and Chairman, Sonecon; former U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs
• Brent Blackwelder, President, Friends of the Earth (Moderator)

Issues to be discussed include:

• The need for carbon emissions pricing
• Relative time frames for implementing a carbon tax and a carbon cap and trade system
• Revenue-neutrality vs. targeted investment
• Revenue tax-shift vs. revenue distribution via “dividends”
• Potential implications for cap and trade from the financial crisis
• Lessons from Canada’s recent national election which turned, in part, on a carbon tax proposal, and from British Columbia’s carbon tax which took effect in July 2008

This briefing is free and open to the public. No RSVP required. For more information, please contact James Handley at (202) 546-5692 or [email protected], Charles Komanoff at (212) 260-5237 or [email protected], or Laura Parsons at (202) 662-1884 or [email protected].

12/09/2008 at 09:00AM

Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World

Since the biodiversity issue burst on the scene with the 1986 National Forum on Biodiversity, there has been a burgeoning of conservation efforts, organizations, research, education and related activities. Despite many successes, the overall situation is much more precarious today. The driving forces of increased human population, consumption, habitat destruction and degradation, contaminants, and invasive species have been joined by dangerous global climate disruption, globalization, poverty, political instability and other rapid environmental and social changes. Paradoxically, the biodiversity issue has largely fallen off the public agenda, pushed in part by the increased attention to climate change.

There is an urgent need for scientists, conservationists and policymakers to re-examine the biodiversity issue. We must both look retrospectively at a quarter-century of “modern” conservation efforts – what has worked well and what hasn’t, but also prospectively at the greater challenges of the next quarter-century. We need to look broadly at the many scientific discoveries and the many issues involving the use, abuse and conservation of biodiversity including cultivated as well as wild species and ecosystems.

The NCSE conference will bring together some 1000 scientists, conservationists and policymakers to develop a strategy to guide a new US Administration and others working to conserve biodiversity around the world. It will develop an approach for biodiversity management and conservation in a 21st century context, including

• Strategies for Biodiversity, Conservation and Sustainable Utilization
• Scientific Needs for Understanding Biodiversity Values, Losses and Consequences
• Expanding Understanding: Information, Education and Communication

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC Metro: Federal Triangle (orange/blue line)

12/08/2008 at 08:00AM

At a time of fiscal belt tightening, when some would put environmental priorities on the back burner, there are many who believe that investing in a green economy now is the best way to achieve both short and long term economic solutions. A recent paper by the Center for American Progress and the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute, “Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low Carbon Economy,” finds that to promote economic mobility, growth, job creation, and regain technological leadership in the global innovation marketplace, we must fundamentally change how we produce and consume energy in this country and transform our economy to a low-carbon model. Investing in clean energy and efficiency will enable the United States to regain technological leadership in the global innovation marketplace, grow our economy, reduce global warming emissions, and invest in national security.

Please join the Center for American Progress and three of the country’s leading advocates for investments in a green economy for a discussion on how each step of an economic recovery package (stabilization, stimulus, recovery, and growth) can be greened, and explore both national and state perspectives on policy solutions towards transforming our economy to a low-carbon model.

Copies of Hot, Flat, and Crowded will be available for purchase at the event.

Introduction by:

• Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Featured Speakers:

• Governor Ed Rendell (D – PA)
• Thomas Friedman, columnist, New York Times; author, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America
• Carol Browner, Principal, The Albright Group LLC

Moderated by:

• Bracken Hendricks, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Live webcast.

12/01/2008 at 12:00PM

Day 1: Cooler Heads Prevailing

Background Briefings on Facts, Trends, Policy and Politics

9:40-10:00: U.S. Transportation Policy – Survey of ISTEA-SAFETEA-LU

• Michael Replogle: Environmental Defense

10:00-10:10: Break

10:10-11:00 Where Are We Going? – Demographic, market and policy trends changing the context for transportation * Chris Leinberger: Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Center; University of Michigan; and

• Rob Puentes: Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Center

11:00-12:15: Tools for Shaping a Low Carbon Transportation Future Panel Discussion and Q & A

Growing Cooler – smart growth and transit

• Geoff Anderson: Smart Growth America; Transportation for America

Enhancing walking and biking

• Kevin Mills: Rails to Trails Conservancy

Intelligent transportation systems and pricing

• Leslie Barras: ITS America

Blueprint Plans

• Mike McKeever: Sacramento Area Council of Governments

12:15-1:30: Lunch

Lunch speaker – New Vision for American Transportation (12:45-1:30)

• Jannette Sadik-Kahn: New York City Department of Transportation

1:30-3:00: Politics and Policy: Transportation and Climate

1:30-1:50: Policy in Brief: A summary of action to date at the state and federal level

• Marty Spitzer: Center for Clean Air Policy

1:50-2:30: Perspectives from the Hill

• Amy Scarton, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
• Susan Binder: Committee on Environment and Public Works

2:30-3:30: Perspectives from Off-the-Hill

• Don Ross: Transportation for America
• Art Guzzetti: American Public Transportation Association
• Polly Trottenberg: Building America’s Future
• Joshua Shank: Bipartisan Policy Center
• Bill Ankner: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

3:30-3:45: Break

3:45-5:30: What’s the Vision: A Proposal for the Green Groups and CLEAN

3:45-4:45: Proposal for Platform, with Group Discussion

• Colin Peppard: Friends of the Earth

4:45–5:00: Fundraising

• David Burwell

5:00-5:30: Designing a Winning Green Campaign: Discussion of Goals and Overview of Next Meeting

• Deron Lovaas: Natural Resources Defense Council

5:30-???: Happy Hour

The Pew Environment Group
1025 F Street NW, 9th Floor
Washington, DC 20004

Telephone: (202) 552-2000

RSVP

11/21/2008 at 09:40AM

EcoTuesday is the Sustainable Business Leaders Networking Forum.

This month’s speaker:

• Lynn Miller

What’s The Big deal about Social Media? Miller Strategic Marketing LLC

Lynn Anne Miller is Marketing Maven at Miller Strategic Marketing LLC where she helps organic, green and tech companies navigate marketing and strategy challenges. Lynn is also the creator and voice of the blog OrganicMania, your guide to making sense of healthy green living.

Location:

Tabaq Lounge @ Cafe Tabaq 1336 U St NW Washington, DC, 20009

RSVP here

11/18/2008 at 12:11PM

Carbon Market Insights Americas 2008 Day 3

8:00am Registration Open

9:00am – 12:00pm Modeling & Forecasting Carbon Prices (Advanced)

This workshop will present various approaches used to forecast carbon prices, in Europe and North America.

• Advantages and disadvantages of macro- and micro-economic models
• The role of time in forecasting carbon prices
• Integrating sectors in multi-sector models
• Modeling the supply of offsets

9:00am – 12:00pm Valuation of CDM Projects & Portfolios (Intermediate)

The Price is Right: Assessing Risk and Value in the Clean Development Mechanism

• Understanding political and country risks
• Price and volume risk in CDM offset contracts
• Valuation of carbon assets – state of the art tools and methodologies

Description

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects present many opportunities for investors and project developers who understand the risks and opportunities embedded in the project cycle. Point Carbon presents its unique expertise on CDM projects around the world and its award-winning Carbon Valuation Tool, a web-based tool for valuation and benchmarking of CDM and JI projects and portfolios.

9:00am – 12:00pm Carbon Finance 2.0 (Advanced)

Trading in options on European Union *Allowances: liquidity, prices and pitfalls

• Structured offset products: how to tailor offset products to customer’s risk appetite?
• Bidding strategies in carbon auctions

Description

Back by popular demand, Carbon Finance 2.0 will be presented by Point Carbon jointly with key carbon market experts. The workshop will provide cutting edge analysis on the latest financial structures developed to manage the risks in these markets.

9:00am – 12:00pm The New Offset Landscape: North American Demand, Agriculture & Forestry (Introductory)

Greenhouse gas reduction projects in North America

• Offsets from agriculture and forestry
• The role of offsets under a future cap-and-trade program

Description

This workshop will get into the details of greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects in North America. We will discuss emerging trends in offset types and protocols, especially in forestry and agriculture. Participants will learn what types of emission credits are generated, as well as how they are verified and marketed. We will hear from some of the key players in the North American offset market on preparing for the role of offsets under a future cap-and-trade system.

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

11/14/2008 at 08:00AM

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) invite you to a briefing to discuss one of the most important challenges facing President-elect Obama when he takes office – addressing the interrelated problems of climate change and energy and economic security. In September, the Global Carbon Project reported that CO2 emissions – mainly from burning fossil fuels – have grown three percent from 2006 to 2007, a rate faster than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted last year in its worst-case scenario. The world’s leaders are looking to the new U.S. President for an indication of the kind of leadership and actions he will take to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, especially in preparation for the UN climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009. In addition, societal economic impacts have been an important piece of the climate debate. The PCAP report seeks to offer concrete, achievable options for both the 44th President and the 111th Congress as a new legislative agenda is set for 2009.

Speakers for this event include:

• Gary Hart (U.S. Senate, ret.), Scholar in Residence and Wirth Chair Professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs
• William Becker, Executive Director, Presidential Climate Action Project
• Martha Coven, Senior Legislative Associate for Government Affairs, Center for Budget Policy and Priorities
• Bill Parsons, Legislative Director, office of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

The Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), a two-year initiative of the University of Colorado School of Public Affairs, has gathered leaders from the nation’s science, policy, business and civic sectors to provide the 44th President with background information and educational materials on global warming, as well as a broad portfolio of tools and policy options to address this global challenge. The project does not advocate on behalf of specific climate policies, programs, spending or other actions by the President or the federal government; instead, members of PCAP have developed a bold, comprehensive and non-partisan plan for presidential leadership rooted in climate science and designed to ignite innovation at every level of the American economy.

This briefing is free and open to the public. No RSVP required.

For more information, please contact Amy Sauer at [email protected] or (202) 662-1892.

11/13/2008 at 02:00PM

Carbon Market Insights Americas 2008 Day 2

8:00am Registration & Exhibit Hall Open

9:00am Introduction

• Per-Otto Wold, CEO, Point Carbon

9:15am Keynote Address – Communicating Climate Change

• Keynote Speaker: Tom Friedman, New York Times Columnist and Pulitzer Prize Winning Author

Topics:

• What does public opinion tell us about policy alternatives?
• How can emerging communication technologies help us better communicate climate science and policy?
• Are we in danger of climate information fatigue or being overpowered by “green noise”?

10:15am Plenary Session – From Bali to Copenhagen: An International Perspective

• Moderator: Elliot Diringer, Vice President, International Strategies, Pew Center on Global Climate Change

Topics:

• International progress on climate policy
• How to pull together a global agreement
• Realistic options for post-2012

Panel Speakers:

• Fernando Tudela, Under Secretary for Planning and Environment Policy, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico
• Thomas Becker, Head of International Department, Ministry of the Environment, Denmark
• Kuni Shimada, Principal International Policy Coordinator, Ministry of Environment, Japan
• André Odenbreit Carvalho, Head of Division for Environmental Policy and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Foreign Relations, Brazil

11.15am Networking Coffee Break

11:45am Financing Technology

• Moderator: Aimée Christensen, Founder & CEO, Christensen Global Strategies

Topics:

• The role and ambitions of the International Clean Technology Fund
• What to expect from carbon capture and storage
• Tradeoffs and complementarities between public and private financing
• Private equity perspectives on the barriers and opportunities for clean energy financing

• Tracy McKibben, Managing Director and Head of Environmental Banking Strategy, Citi
• William A. Pizer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy, US Department of Treasury
• Glen Robinson, Vice President, Asset Management and Development, Exelon Power
• Mark Cirilli, Co-founder & Managing Director, MissionPoint Capital Partners

11:45am Using REDD To Go Green

• Moderator: Jorend Buen, Director, Point Carbon

Topics:

• The role of offset credits from land use change *How to reward avoided deforestation in a global climate regime
• Market impacts of forest project credits

Panel Speakers:

• Dr. Sandra Brown, Senior Scientist, Winrock’s International Ecosystem Services Unit
• Benoit Bosquet, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist, The World Bank
• Joanna Durbin, Director of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance, Conservation International
• Florence Daviet, Associate, World Resources Institute
• Lenny Hochschild, Managing Director, Evolution Markets

1:45pm Carbon Offset Trends

• Moderator: Kyle Danish, Partner, Van Ness Feldman & Counsel, Coalition for Emission Reduction Projects

Topics:

• Agriculture and forestry: new sources of offset supply?
• How much is too much: constraints on offset use in carbon trading programs
• Additionality – what makes a project ‘count’?

Panel Speakers:

• Gary Gero, President & CEO, California Climate Action Registry
• David Miller, Director of Research and Commodity Services, Iowa Farm Bureau
• Rick Adcock, SVP, Origination and Investment, CAMCO
• Rich Rosenzweig, COO, Natsource

1:45pm Addressing Competitiveness Concerns

• Moderator: Manik Roy, Vice President, Federal Government Outreach, Pew Center on Global Climate Change

Topics:

• How is a federal climate program likely to affect energy-intensive industries that trade globally?
• How much risk is there that jobs, production, and emissions will move overseas?
• What can be done to address these concerns? Trade measures? Compensating firms with allowance value? Other options?

Panel Speakers:

• Meg McDonald, President, Alcoa Foundation
• Trevor Houser, Director of the Energy and Climate Practice, Rhodium Group & Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Robert Baugh, Executive Director, Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO & Chair, Energy Task Force, AFL-CIO
• Peter Molinaro, Vice President, Federal and State Government Affairs, The Dow Chemical Company
• James Bradbury, Legislative Assistant, Congressman Jay Inslee (WA-1)

3:30pm Focus on Transportation

• Moderator: Vicki Arroyo, Director of Policy Analysis, Pew Center on Global Climate Change

Topics: Panel will cover the three contributing factors to emissions in this sector

• equipment efficiency, carbon content of fuels, and usage patterns—and ways to address them
• How could cap and trade be integrated with renewable- or low-carbon fuel standards?
• Can we find a balance in the use of crops for fuel versus food?

Panel Speakers:

• Mary D. Nichols, Chairman, California Air Resources Board
• David Hone, Climate Change Manager, Shell International
• Margo Oge, Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA
• Beth Lowery, VP, Environment and Energy, General Motors

3:30pm Focus on Electricity, Power and Gas

• Moderator: Jurgen Weiss, Managing Director, Advisory Services, Point Carbon

Topics:

• How will carbon prices influence fuel and power prices?
• How will the power sector meet its target?
• The impact on the gas sector

Panel Speakers:

• Mark Brownstein, Managing Director, Climate and Air Program, Environmental Defense Fund
• Melissa Lavinson, Director, Federal Environmental Affairs and Corporate Responsibility, PG&E
• Swaminathan Venkataraman, Energy Analysis, S&P
• Pat Concessi, Partner, Global Energy Markets Practice, Deloitte & Touche
• Chris Sherman, General Counsel, New England Power Generators Association

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel

11/13/2008 at 08:00AM