Sustainable State of the Union?

06.03.2013

A couple of weeks ago President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union speech at the US congress. It was interesting to learn that on the issue of climate conditions President Obama was prepared to take serious action and urged Congress to act on bipartisan “market-based solutions”.

It was a pleasure to see President Obama prepared to combat climate change: “For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods – all are now more frequent and intense. We can choose to believe that super storm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science – and act before it’s too late”, says President Obama.

At the same time, President Obama argued that taking action can and should be done from a financially viable perspective. “We can make meaningful progress on this issue while driving strong economic growth”, the President said.

The big energy goal was laid out on the table: “Let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next 20 years.” Obviously, there is willingness and ambition to act. The goal has been set out; now what is needed is the leadership to meet the green goals.The intentions are there, but the question remains, will President Obama succeed in getting his plans through Congress and what happens if he doesn’t?

“If Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy”, says the President.

At Act NOW we are delighted by this actions-based approach. A cornerstone in Act NOW is to show how to take action on green goals. We do this together with our partners by creating awareness about best-practice cases on energy efficiency.

You can watch President Obama’s speech here