Key Accomplishments and Performance Measures EPA has achieved substantial success across its climate change efforts. Although performance measures vary somewhat according to the nature of a specific program, key performance measures include: avoided emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants, reduced energy use, and financial savings to program partners. In 1997 EPA's program targets and performance measures were revised from the original Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), to reflect reduced funding levels in 1996 and 1997 and were reported in the U.S. Climate Change Action Report, 1997 Submission of the United States of America Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. FIGURE 1: U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS: ANNUAL REDUCTIONS Through 1998, EPA programs have: • Reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by more than 150,000 tons since 1995. • Reduced energy consumption by more than 71 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) since 1995. • Saved businesses, consumers, and organizations more than $6.5 billion since 1995. • Partnered with more than 7,000 businesses, state and local governments and other organizations. Program Effectiveness EPA also measures success in terms of overall program effectiveness. In addition to meeting the revised annual goal for 1998, reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 29 MMTCE (105 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent), EPA's technology deployment programs have demonstrated great cost-effectiveness. For every dollar spent by EPA on climate change, the climate change voluntary programs have: ⚫ reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and ⚫ delivered $70 in energy bill savings to consumers and organizations. These results demonstrate that climate protection and economic growth can go hand in hand. Overall program effectiveness is expected to improve over the next several years because much of EPA's work to date has been devoted to program design and start up. ♦ provide up to $8 billion in energy bill savings to consumers and businesses that use energy efficient products for the year, ♦ develop a new generation of efficient and low polluting cars and trucks; ⚫ build partnerships to vastly increase the penetration of energy efficient technologies throughout all sectors of the economy. Justification of Funding Increase Over the next decade there are important opportunities to further reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution, and improve the U.S. economy. EPA is requesting a $107 million increase in 2000 funding for its climate technology programs in order to target these additional opportunities throughout all sectors of the economy. The FY 2000 request is part of the President's 5-year Climate Change Technology Initiative announced in the FY 1999 Budget. Over the next decade, the increase in funding for EPA will deliver at least: ♦ 354 MMTCE of greenhouse gas emissions reductions (1.3 billion tons carbon dioxide equivalent) ♦ $35 billion in energy savings to families and businesses ⚫ 850,000 tons of NO, emissions reductions. These benefits are based on the current effectiveness of EPA's programs. Because EPA expects overall program effectiveness to increase over the next several years, these benefits could be greater. Increasing funding for technology deployment is critical to cost-effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Both technology deployment and technology R&D are essential elements of a balanced strategy to address climate change in both the near-term and the long-term. Technology deployment efforts help the marketplace more rapidly adopt existing yet underutilized technologies as well as to more rapidly adopt new technologies from the R&D pipeline. Technology deployment efforts are particularly important in the buildings and industrial sectors. In these sectors, two-thirds of greenhouse gas pollution in 2010 will be caused by equipment that is purchased between now and then. EPA's strategy to help achieve these additional environmental and economic benefits is to expand its existing programs where additional benefits can be achieved at a profit to businesses and consumers and to launch new initiatives targeted at areas of opportunity that EPA has not addressed. With additional funding, EPA will pursue the following goals through 2010: In the buildings sector, EPA will expand upon the successful Energy Star partnerships (including ENERGY STAR Labeling and the ENERGY STAR Buildings and Green Lights Program) working toward the goal of improving the efficiency of one-half of all commercial buildings and homes by the year 2010. An administration-wide effort to achieve this goal will increase reductions to about 70 MMTCE (256 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually in 2010. It would also reduce the nation's energy bill by over $30 billion per year. EPA will contribute a large portion of the reductions in 2010 building on the 12.7 MMTCE (47 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) that the programs will deliver in 2000. ♦ In the industrial sector, EPA will work with DOE and expand its existing partnerships with the goal of: (1) doubling the rate of energy and resource efficiency improvements in industry between now and 2010, and; (2) cost-effectively limiting emissions of the more potent greenhouse gases (HFCs, PFCs, SF). EPA, whose industry programs will deliver annual greenhouse gas reductions of 37.9 MMTCE (140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually in 2000, will play a large role in delivering an estimated 140 MMTCE (513 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually by 2010. In the transportation sector EPA will accelerate its part in the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles and work with manufacturers to bring to market cars that achieve three times the gas mileage of today's vehicles and to expand the partnership to include light and heavy duty trucks. In addition, EPA's Transportation Partners will continue to build on the existing network of over 340 companies, community organizations and local governments to implement strategies to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT). In the State & Local Climate Change Program, EPA will continue to work towards integrating energy efficiency, clean air, and climate change goals into state and local government energy planning policies. In the International Capacity Building area, EPA will continue to work with developing countries to develop plans for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent in targeted countries, or about 135 MMTCE (495 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually by 2010. EPA will also help enhance forest management by aiding assessment of associated local pollution. Finally, EPA will also work with international partners and U.S. businesses and NGOs to establish market mechanisms that dramatically lower the cost of mitigating greenhouse gas and help finance expansion of international markets for U.S. clean technologies. The programs are designed to capitalize on opportunities to deploy technology more rapidly through the marketplace, technologies that will save consumers and organizations money on their energy bills while reducing air and other pollution. The primary source of authority for most of these programs is the Clean Air Act. Other statutes provide additional authority for individual programs and specific activities. EPA's current and future programs help fulfill U.S. commitments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change ratified by the United States in 1992 and are in no way intended to implement the Kyoto Protocol prior to Senate ratification. 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background According to the world's leading climate scientists, the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere - resulting primarily from the burning of fossil fuels - is leading to global warming. These scientists predict that unless action is taken to reduce emissions, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the next century will increase to their highest levels in 160,000 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in its consensus 1995 report, that global warming resulting from this increase in greenhouse gas emissions "is likely to have wide-ranging and mostly adverse impacts on human health with significant loss of life." Burning fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, to produce energy is the source of the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions. Roughly a third of these emissions come from transportation, a third from industry, and a third from residential and commercial buildings. It has long been recognized that existing, available technologies can provide the same services while using much less energy, and thus causing much less pollution. If a variety of recent technologies and practices were more widely adopted in specific applications, energy use could be cut by more than 30 percent. Many efficient technologies not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but do so while saving money and reducing other forms of pollution. Several major studies support the economic value of improved energy efficiency. A 1996 study by the Energy Information Agency suggests that a reduction in U.S. energy consumption of 12 percent (by the year 2015) would increase GDP by 0.5 percent. Additional studies by the National Academy of Sciences, Office of Technology Assessment, and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy have all demonstrated that the technological potential exists to cut energy consumption by 20% or more at a net economic benefit. EPA's climate change programs are designed to overcome market barriers that have directed the country along a less-than-optimal energy efficiency path to date. These barriers slow the rate of investment in available, smart, efficient technologies that can reduce operating costs and prevent the emissions of greenhouse gases. The existence or availability of a financially attractive technology does not by itself mean the technology will be purchased and used in sizable quantities. Before these efficient technologies can become widely adopted, a number of other key factors have to be in place: ♦ Potential buyers of products need to know of the technology, • Potential buyers of products need clear, reliable information on the performance and economic benefits of the technology; • Potential buyers must be the ones to see the benefits of lower energy bills; and ⚫ Service providers and users of the technologies must have expertise to appropriately design for, install, and operate the technology. EPA's programs are designed to overcome these barriers in a range of sectors in the economy. Programs like ENERGY STAR Buildings and Green Lights offer the technical assistance, information, and motivation needed for commercial buildings to achieve 30 to 40% energy savings costeffectively and at low risk. In residential buildings, the ENERGY STAR Homes Program provides a label so builders are able to distinguish their high efficiency homes which deliver utility bill savings with no sacrifice in performance. EPA supports this label with broad consumer awareness efforts. EPA is also working with the financial community to help them understand the added value of energy |