Midwest Accord Focuses on Emissions Reduction
Ten Midwestern leaders recently signed a regional strategy to achieve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
Ten Midwestern leaders recently signed a regional strategy to achieve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
The agreement, the Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, was signed at the Midwestern Governors Association (MGA) Energy Security and Climate Change Summit in Milwaukee, Wis.
The accord plans to:
· Establish greenhouse gas reduction targets and timeframes consistent with MGA member states’ targets
· Develop a market-based and multi-sector cap-and-trade mechanism to help achieve those reduction targets
· Establish a system to enable tracking, management, and crediting for entities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
· Develop and implement additional steps as needed to achieve the reduction targets, such as a low-carbon fuel standards and regional incentives and funding mechanisms.
Within the next year, Governors and other participating jurisdictional leaders plan to establish targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions and complete development of a proposed cap-and-trade system. Targets will be consistent with the 60 to 80 percent recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Full implementation of the accord is expected to be completed within 30 months.
As part of the summit, the Midwestern states, including Nebraska and North Dakota, also adopted an Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform. The platform establishes shared goals for the Midwest region, including specific timelines for the advance of energy efficiency, the promotion of biobased products, the production of renewable electricity, and the development of advance coal and carbon capture and storage.
To support these shared goals, the Midwestern states launched new cooperative regional initiatives to address the following:
· Carbon dioxide management to create a regional transportation and storage infrastructure
· A bioproduct procurement program to support the growth of the region’s bioeconomy
· Electricity transmission adequacy to support thousands of new megawatts of wind energy
· Renewable fuels corridors and coordinated signage to promote renewable fuel usage across the Midwest
· Advanced bioenergy permitting to assist states with the latest technologies
· Low-carbon energy transmission infrastructure that will provide a cost-effective way to supply the Midwest with sustainable and environmentally responsible energy.
The Accord was signed by governors Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Chester J. Culver of Iowa, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Ted Strickland of Ohio, M. Michael Rounds of South Dakota, and Premier Gary Doer of Manitoba.
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