Blair signs climate pact with Schwarzenegger

Tony Blair yesterday sidestepped the Bush administration's refusal to act on climate change by signing what was hailed as a ground-breaking agreement with California, the world's 12th largest carbon emitter, to fight global warming.
Downing Street made no attempt to disguise the fact that the deal is designed to get round Republican objections to states imposing mechanisms to cut carbon emissions. With other US states also interested or involved in carbon trading markets, the path is being opened to bring US business into international efforts to fight climate change, even though international progress has been stymied by the Bush administration's refusal to sign up to binding targets in the Kyoto protocol


Blair signs climate pact with Schwarzenegger · California deal paves way to joining EU scheme· Agreement represents snub to White House Patrick Wintour, political editorTuesday August 1, 2006The Guardian Arnold Schwarzenegger looks on as Tony Blair talks during a meeting in California. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Tony Blair yesterday sidestepped the Bush administration's refusal to act on climate change by signing what was hailed as a ground-breaking agreement with California, the world's 12th largest carbon emitter, to fight global warming.
Downing Street made no attempt to disguise the fact that the deal is designed to get round Republican objections to states imposing mechanisms to cut carbon emissions. With other US states also interested or involved in carbon trading markets, the path is being opened to bring US business into international efforts to fight climate change, even though international progress has been stymied by the Bush administration's refusal to sign up to binding targets in the Kyoto protocol.


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Mr Blair signed the statement of intent yesterday with California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying it would lay the groundwork for a new transatlantic market in carbon dioxide emissions.
The prime minister wants to create a coalition of the willing among those US states prepared to join the European Union's carbon trading scheme. The Blair-Schwarzenegger deal came at a meeting in Long Beach organised by Steve Howard, CEO of the Climate Group, an international charity working to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and Lord Browne, chairman of British Petroleum. Virgin's Sir Richard Branson was also present.
The two-year-old EU carbon trading scheme sets country-by-country overall caps for carbon, and rewards individual companies which find a profitable way to minimise carbon emissions.
The United States is responsible for a quarter of the world's global-warming pollution. Bush administration officials argue that requiring cuts in greenhouse gases would cost the US economy 5m jobs.
Mr Schwarzenegger has set out an ambitious climate change programme for California amid fears that water shortages and heatwaves will destroy the state's economy, including its vineyards, within 20 years. In June last year, the state committed itself to cut carbon emissions back to 2000 levels by 2010, a fall of 59m tonnes, and by 2020 down to 1990 levels, a fall of 145m tonnes. Polls show Californians regard climate change as the biggest issue facing the state. Even though Mr Schwarzenegger is a Republican, he strongly supports tough measures, and huge investment in clean technology.
Backstory
Carbon trading has emerged as a way for countries to slash emissions of greenhouse gases. Each country is given an emissions quota and issues permits to the biggest carbon emitters, such as power firms. Those companies that reduce emissions and use less than their quota can sell leftover permits to others which fail to. Each year the quota is reduced, so market forces push the penalty for emitting greenhouse gases higher. Europe has established an emissions trading network, and at least nine US states have started trading carbon dioxide among themselves.