Dec 22 2009
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, currently leading a bipartisan Congressional delegation to Copenhagen issued a statement on the United Nations Climate Conference. In this statement, Pelosi referred to the agreement decided in Copenhagen as an advancement in the global effort to fight against climate crisis.
President Obama’s leadership and active participation contributed to this agreement. The President has come up with an agreement that includes three fundamentals such as transparency measures, financing mechanism and an achievable mitigation target. These three fundamentals are included in the House-passed Waxman-Markey bill.
The response to the House passed clean energy bill from the American business leaders and colleagues in the European Parliament was satisfying. Pelosi stated that a great number of clean energy jobs for Americans will be created by the legislation to bring about improvements in businesses dealing with renewable fuels and energy efficiency.
The bipartisan Congressional delegation led by Nancy Pelosi was made up of 21 Members of the House who participated in discussions and meetings conducted by the delegation for two days during their visit to the UN Climate conference at Copenhagen. The delegation participated in discussions on climate crisis along with representatives from leading American companies such as Whirlpool, Google and Honeywell.
These representatives highlighted the success of their businesses in areas that include green technologies and energy efficiency. The funds provided by the Congress through the Recovery Package have enabled companies to make investments for creating new jobs and developing products that enhances energy efficiency especially the smart grid technology.
Members of the delegation participated in a conference with women leaders by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance. These participants had discussions with Jairam Ramesh, Indian Minister of State for Environment and Forests, the President of the Folketinget, Thor Pedersen, and leading Danish government officials. Representatives of the European Council of Ministers stated that their countries followed various carbon reduction measures and have also managed to create new jobs and gain economic growth with the use of clean energy technologies. Congressman Joe Barton referred to this conference as an historic meeting though there was difference of opinion between Members of the delegation.