President Obama will sign an executive order Thursday to cut government carbon dioxide emissions 40 percent below 2008 levels over the next decade. This also just happens to be on the same day Obama is set to meet with Prince Charles, a rabid environmentalist.
Obama’s executive order will also force the federal government to get 30 percent of its energy from green sources, like wind and solar, within the next ten years. This effort will include reducing energy use at federal offices, increasing fuel efficiency for federal vehicles and also buying more electric cars and hybrids.
The Obama administration has been scouring the globe looking for allies to back a climate treaty to fight global warming. The president claims the Chinese are with him, but it seems now he’s looking to convince the British to go along with his plan.
Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, will meet with Obama in the Oval Office Thursday to discuss global warming, corporate social responsibility and cultural issues facing the U.S. and Britain.
Coincidentally, major federal contractors will also promise to cut their carbon footprints in the next decade during Charles’s U.S. visit. These companies will promise to cut 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the next decade.
The Washington Post reports that Honeywell, IBM and General Electric are just some of the federal contractors announcing their zero-carbon ambitions. Honeywell and GE are listed on a recent report as some of the top federal contractors that have also gotten hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies over the years.
Since 2000, Honeywell has gotten $226 million in federal grants and tax credits while GE has gotten a whopping $837 million in grants and tax credits, according to a new report by the left-leaning Good Jobs First.
Obama has made fighting global warming a top priority of his second term in office. It’s an issue he wants to stake his presidential legacy on. But not only in terms for regulations on carbon dioxide he is imposing on the U.S., but he also wants to be remembered for galvanizing support for a global climate deal.
“If I can encourage and gain commitments from the Chinese to put forward a serious plan to start curbing their greenhouse gases, and that then allows us to leverage the entire world for the conference that will be taking place later this year in Paris,” Obama told VICE News in an interview.
“When I’m done, we’re still going to have a heck of a problem, but we will have made enough progress that the next president and the next generation can start building on it,” Obama said.
News reports have indicated how Obama is quietly working behind the scenes to build international support for a climate treaty. to be signed in Paris later this year when the United Nations meets to discuss global warming.
“When we think about the things that we want to get done that have significance and consequence, this is a big thing,” Brian Deese, Obama’s new senior adviser who took the place of John Podesta, told Politico.
“Paris is the big focus internationally for this year, and it’s clear that this is a very high level priority for the president,” another senior administration official told Politico.
But can he do it? Even if he signs a climate treaty, Republican Senators have vowed to challenge the legitimacy of the deal, which they say attempts to circumvent congressional authority.
“The Senate is not going to ratify any international climate treaty that continues this trend, a trend I fully expect to continue during the Paris talks this December,” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an emailed statement.
“The president already lacks the authority to implement his costly domestic agenda, and international treaties have no force or effect in this country without approval from two-thirds majority of the Senate,” Inhofe said. “Should the president attempt to circumvent the Senate’s authority to ratify any international agreement, c.”
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.