• Program 2010-11

Climate Policy and Legislation After the Midterm Elections

Date: 

November 18, 2010

Time: 

6-8 pm

Venue: 

NYU Center for Global Affairs Woolworth Building - 15 Barclay Street (Enter on Barclay Street ) New York , NY (Please present ID at Ground Floor Reception.) Subways - 2,3 at Park Place 4,5,6 at City Hall

If campaign ads in West Virginia are any indication of what November's midterm elections will mean for U.S. climate policy, comprehensive climate change legislation looks to be a dead issue, unlikely to be resurrected for some time. Yet while experts agree that there is a very low likelihood of a national cap-and-trade system being adopted by Congress in the next two years, climate change action continues to be taken by other government fronts- including the EPA, White House, SEC, Departments of Interior and Energy, and several states and cities. Moreover, climate change proponents are increasingly framing policy debates in terms of economic competitiveness, green jobs, energy security, fossil fuel drilling operational risk, and even religious imperatives- with mixed effects. While many may agree federal legislation is the best climate policy approach, the efficacy of alternative government approaches and policy frameworks remain to be seen.

Join the Sustainable Practice Network expert panel as they discuss the implications of the midterm elections on domestic and international climate policy strategy, renewable energy development, green job creation, and national progress.

Moderator: 

Carolyn Kissane, Ph.D. Clinical Associate Professor of Global Affairs, NYU Center for Global Affairs

Panelists: 

Jonathan Schrag; Executive Director, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI); Britt Groosman, Senior Economic Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund; Michael Levi, Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment, Council on Foreign Relations