U.S. GHG Leadership for Paris 2015

At the United Nations Climate Summit 2014: Catalyzing Action on September 23, 2014, countries are expected to unveil their proposals for significant domestic greenhouse gas emissions reductions that will form the basis of further negotiations toward a 2015 agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While the European Union has already announced its 2030 goal, other nations have yet to put their cards on the table. With the White House quietly examining the policy potentials, economics, and science of setting standards for either 2025 or 2030, the question becomes one not only of goals, but of leadership.

Join us for a look at likely greenhouse gas reduction efforts for the United States to propose at the Climate Summit. Our expert panel will identify where the United States is in progress towards our current target and how that target might be adjusted in the lead up to the 2015 Paris negotiations. Our panel will also examine the process by which the E.U. reached its target and ask whether it might be illustrative for the White House and Congress.

Panelists:
Robert M. Sussman, Principal, Sussman & Associates, former Senior Policy Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and former Co-Chair of the EPA Transition Team (moderator)
Ross Eisenberg, Vice President, National Association of Manufacturers
Hilary French, Program Officer, Regional Office for North America, United Nations Environment Programme
Dan Utech, Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, The White House (invited)
David Waskow, Director, International Climate Initiative, World Resources Institute