Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

Interesting that one U.S. state and a foreign government decide to work together on reducing greenhouse gases . . . CT

Britain and California agreed on Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

As part of the agreement, Britain and the state of California will investigate whether they can cooperate on an emissions trading scheme, said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who launched the agreement with California.

Most scientists link greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels to global warming that could lead to heat waves, stronger storms, and flooding from rising sea levels.

California's Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pursued a strong environmental agenda, putting him at odds with fellow Republican Bush who withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol on global warming in 2001, saying its caps on greenhouse gases would cost jobs.

"The environmental and economic consequences of climate change and our dependency on fossil fuels compel both California and the United Kingdom to commit to urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote low carbon technologies," Britain and California will say in a joint statement.

Emissions trading schemes, such as the European Union's, work by placing mandatory limits on the production of greenhouse gases. Bush, however, has called for voluntary measures to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases.

A spokesman for the British Consulate-General in Los Angeles said Blair and Schwarzenegger were not sidestepping Bush on global warming. "That's explicitly not what we're doing," he said, adding that the meeting will mostly focus on boosting alternative energy.

Blair has made tackling global warming a priority. His credibility suffered a blow in March when Britain said it would miss its own target to slash carbon dioxide emissions, although that target was much more ambitious than Britain's commitment under Kyoto.

Blair has called for the world to work on an agreement to tackle climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

To be successful, Blair argues that any new agreement must include emerging economies like China and India, as well as the United States.

Schwarzenegger has endorsed measures to reduce industrial emissions of greenhouse gases, but has stopped short of calling for a hard cap on them.