Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07LISBON2755
2007-10-30 18:17:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Lisbon
Cable title:  

US GOVERNORS JOIN INTERNATIONAL CARBON ACTION

Tags:  ENRG SENV EUN PO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3227
PP RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHLI #2755/01 3031817
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301817Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY LISBON
TO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES PRIORITY
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0254
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0323
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 0145
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6394
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LISBON 002755 

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STATE FOR: E/B; PA/IGA; WHITE HOUSE FOR CIEQ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2032
TAGS: ENRG SENV EUN PO
SUBJECT: US GOVERNORS JOIN INTERNATIONAL CARBON ACTION
PARTNERSHIP


Classified By: DCM DAVID BALLARD, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY
-----------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LISBON 002755

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR: E/B; PA/IGA; WHITE HOUSE FOR CIEQ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2032
TAGS: ENRG SENV EUN PO
SUBJECT: US GOVERNORS JOIN INTERNATIONAL CARBON ACTION
PARTNERSHIP


Classified By: DCM DAVID BALLARD, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (U) The International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP)
was launched on October 29 in Lisbon by a coalition of
European countries, the EU Commission, US states, Canadian
provinces, New Zealand, and Norway. The inaugural event
included a signing ceremony followed by several technical
workshops. During the ceremony, all parties expressed their
commitment to the project and emphasized carbon markets as
the only efficient mechanism for increasing the compatibility
of carbon reduction and economic growth. In addition, the US
participants noted the absence of the US federal government
in this initiative and underscored EU leadership on the issue.

HIGH LEVEL ATTENDANCE UNDERSCORES IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP
-------------- --------------

2. (U) More pomp than substance, the inaugural ICAP event
was attended by several high level officials, underscoring
the importance that the member countries and regions place on
the initiative, which provides a forum in which governments
can share best best practices on the design of emissions
trading schemes and work toward the development of a global
carbon market. Leaders attending the ceremony included:
President Jose Socrates, current President of the Council of
the European Union and Prime Minister of Portugal; European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso; Governor Jon
Corzine, New Jersey; Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York and
Premier Gordon Campbell, British Columbia. Linda Adams,
Secretary for the California Environmental Protection Agency,

SIPDIS
represented Governor Schwarzenegger, although both
Schwarzenegger and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
participated via video message. In addition, Finance
Minister of Norway Kristin Halvorsen, and representative
delegations from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, New
Zealand, the Netherlands, and Spain were also in attendance
to sign the agreement.


3. (U) Governors Corzine and Spitzer represented the
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (whose members include
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New

York, Vermont, and Maryland) and Governor Schwarzenegger's
delegation represented the Western Climate Initiative (whose
members include Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, California,
Utah, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and
Manitoba). Both the RGGI and the WCI are in the process of
creating regional cap and trade programs to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions.

COMMITTMENT TO CARBON MARKETS, NEED FOR INCREASED
PARTICIPATION
-------------- --------------

4. (U) During the ceremony, all parties expressed their
commitment to the ICAP initiative and reiterated the role
carbon markets will play in combating global warming. They
noted that a cap and trade emissions system is key to
ensuring the compatibility of carbon reduction and economic
growth by forcing companies to internalize the cost of
climate change, encouraging new clean technologies and
environmentally sound behavior, and creating a financial flow
to aid developing countries in adaptation and technological
development. In addition, speakers agreed that the success
of an emission trading scheme is directly correlated to the
number of participants. They, therefore, endorsed ICAP's
goal to increase the compatibility of current regional carbon
markets and eventually establish a well-functioning global
cap and trade carbon market. During their presentations, all
three US governors placed special emphasis on the need for
increased global participation, specifically expressing their
disappointment that the U.S. federal government does not
support a nation-wide cap and trade emissions scheme. They
praised the EU's leadership on this issue and indicated that
the current European Emissions Trading Scheme had provided
the world with a crucial blue print for the establishment of
similar systems.

LOOKING AHEAD
--------------

5. (U) Barroso stated that the ICAP initiative sent a much
needed message, prior to the UN Framework on Climate Change
meeting in Bali, that world leaders can work together and
take bold action toward a global low carbon economy. He
reiterated the EU's commitment to the initiative's goals and
the special responsibility of developed countries to take the
lead on climate change. In addition, he invited all

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participants to attend the first ICAP public workshop in
Brussels in 2008 to formulate action plans. Socrates gave
the final speech in which he praised the formation of ICAP as
a launching pad to future action on climate change. He
underscored the need for a technological revolution, one
sparked by incentives laid out in carbon trading schemes. He
also expressed the EU's hope that the upcoming meeting in
Bali will be successful in establishing a clear roadmap and
legally binding emissions targets, which he deemed necessary
for the credibility of the UN process. Socrates also
reiterated the EU stance that the UN is the only forum
capable of tackling such an enormous global problem.


6. (C) COMMENT: Several of the references to the lack of
U.S. leadership on climate change and, particularly the
formation of carbon markets, were more opaque than others.
Socrates, for instance, while not openly criticizing other
endeavors--such as the MEM process--made it clear that the
the EU sees the UN Framework as the ideal forum in which to
tackle climate change. Note also that Ambassador Hoffman
hosted all three US delegations to breakfast prior to the
event where they discussed the need to increase the use of
nuclear energy in the fight against global warming.
Hoffman