WC Archive

Further evidence that action taken by state-level governments and global corporations can make up for federal intransigence about acting against global warming-induced climate disruption comes from the UN conference on the climate, ending today in Buenos Aires. According to Reuters, greenhouse gas reduction efforts in California and New England states were cited by attendees as models for the rest of the world. "When designing our energy policy, Germany will always look to California because it's the best example," said Barbel Hohn, environment minister in Germany's largest state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In addition, multinational giants such as DuPont, Alcoa and IBM have set their own greenhouse gas reduction targets, sometimes to levels greatly exceeding the standards set by the Kyoto treaty. DuPont's emissions, for example, were 68% lower in 2003 than in 1990.