The White House
President George W. Bush
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 28, 2007

Fact Sheet: Toward a New Global Approach to Climate Change and Energy Security
President Bush Addresses Climate Change At First Major Economies Meeting On Energy Security As Part Of His New Initiative Announced In May 2007 And Welcomed By G8 Leaders In June And APEC Leaders In September

      In Focus: Environment

Today, President Bush will address the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change and urge a new path forward to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people.  Today's meeting launches President Bush's major economies initiative to work with all of the world's largest users of energy and largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions, including both developed and developing nations, to establish a new international approach on energy security and climate change in 2008 that will contribute to a global agreement by 2009 under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

Key To This Effort Will Be The Advance Of Clean Energy Technologies

By developing new, low-emission technologies, the world's major economies can meet the growing demand for energy while reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  For many years, those who worried about climate change and those who worried about energy security were on opposite ends of the debate.  But these challenges share a common solution: technology.

The United States Is Leading The Way In Developing Clean Energy Technologies 

Since the President took office, the Federal government has invested nearly $18 billion to research, develop, and promote clean and efficient energy technologies and help get them to market.  The private sector has responded with significant investments, ranging from corporate research and development to the venture capital markets.

An Age Of Clean Energy Requires Transforming The Way We Produce Electricity 

Since 2001, the United States has invested more than $2.5 billion to research and develop clean coal. In addition, in partnership with other nations and the private sector, the U.S. is moving closer to producing energy from the world's first zero emissions coal-fired plant.

The United States is working to reduce barriers to new nuclear power plants in the country without compromising safety.  Just last week, a company filed the first application since the 1970s to build new nuclear reactors in the U.S. 

Since 2001, America has increased wind energy production by more than 300 percent and launched the Solar America initiative to lower the cost of solar power.  Taken together, low-carbon technologies like wind and solar power have the potential to contribute significantly to America’s electricity production.

An Age Of Clean Energy Also Requires Transforming The Way We Fuel Our Cars And Trucks

America is investing in new clean energy alternatives: 

The President's "Twenty in Ten" plan will help ensure cost-effective new technologies reach the market.  This plan will help reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by as much as 20 percent in ten years by:

As We Work To Transform Energy Production, We Must Also Address Unsustainable Rates Of Deforestation

Scientists estimate that nearly 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to deforestation.  The world's forests help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere by storing carbon dioxide in trees.  But when our forests disappear, the concentration of greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere increases.  We need to preserve and expand forests at home and abroad.

America has taken steps to help increase the amount of carbon storage in our forests and to safeguard our forests for future generations:  

The U.S. is also partnering with other nations to promote forest conservation and management across the world.  We welcome and support new initiatives from Australia, Brazil, China, and Indonesia, and will continue to do our part.  We remain committed to initiatives such as the Congo Basin Forest Partnership and Asia Forest Partnership.  We will also continue our efforts through the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, which helps developing nations redirect debt payments toward forest conservation programs. 

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