Supporting Materials

whitepapers The following documents were commissioned by the Presidential Climate Action Project to inform the development of the plan and contain even more detail than the chapters themselves.

Drafts of Expanded PCAP Chapters

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UPDATE July 2008
The Boundaries of Executive Authority: Using Executive Orders to Implement Federal Climate Change Policy
The Center for Energy and Environmental Security (CEES) was asked to prepare a report on the legal boundaries of executive authority with emphasis on the use of executive orders (EOs) to implement appropriate provisions of the Climate Action Plan. [PDF/3MB]

The Boundaries of Executive Authority: Using Executive Orders to Implement Federal Climate Change Policy
A Report Produced for the Presidential Climate Action Project by the Center for Energy & Environmental Security,
February 2008. [PDF/4.4MB]

International Climate Treaty Negotiations and The Next President: Challenges And Opportunities
The ultimate objective of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 is to prevent "dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system," while at the same time promoting sustainable development under the principles of equity and "common but differentiated responsibility."
[PDF/66KB]

The Outlook for Fresh Water in a Changing Climate
by Jane Elder and Cynthia Sampson
Fresh water is precious on a planet where slightly more than 97 percent of the water is salty. Most of the remaining 3 percent – 2.15 percent – is bound up in ice in the polar regions and in glaciers, although the rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet and glaciers around the world is changing that math every year. A little more than a half of one percent of Earth’s water is in groundwater and aquifers in the Earth’s crust, much of which isn’t easily accessible, and some of which carries with it arsenic, radon and pollutants. Freshwater lakes, ponds and streams combined comprise a small fraction of one percent of the world’s total water – a whisper of a presence at the planetary scale, and yet the essential ingredient for all terrestrial life.

The Economic Case for Climate Action
By L. Hunter Lovins
When you meet your maker, what will you talk about? Will you proudly discuss your rate of return? Or how you enhanced shareholder value? What will your legacy be? The way most companies do business, most communities operate, and most of us live will leave a legacy of an environmentally and financially impoverished planet. We can, we must do better. [PDF/769KB]

One Hundred Days of Climate Action
By David W. Orr; Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College
"Here's the inconvenient truth: We have not even begun to be serious about the costs, the effort and the scale of change that will be required to shift our country, and eventually the world to a largely emissions-free energy infrastructure over the next 50 years." [PDF/67KB]

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Federal Buildings, Facilities and Vehicles
A paper by Joe Loper, Steve Capanna and Jeffrey Harris of the Alliance to Save Energy
Commisioned by the PCAP [PDF/432KB]

Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions through Improved Energy Efficiency in Buildings
A paper by Joe Loper, Steve Capanna, Selin Devranoglu and Nils Petermann of the Alliance to Save Energy
Commisioned by the PCAP [PDF/678KB]

A plan for collaboration between the world's major developing and developed nations to reduce GHG emissions and to keep atmospheric concentrations below 450 ppm.
http://www.env.duke.edu/institute/g8plus5.pdf [PDF/1.4MB]

Have we already passed the point of no return?
A PCAP analysis by Susan Joy Hassol. [PDF/1.64MB]

Nature's Trust: A Paradigm for Natural Resources Stewardship
By Mary Christina Wood
P.K. Knight Professor, University of Oregon, School of Law

[MS WORD/52KB]

[PDF/29KB]

[.mp3] An NPR interview w/ Ms. Wood.

Natural Terrestrial Sequestration (NTS): An Exemplar for Natural Resources Trust Stewardship
By Alison Burchell
Geologist, Sustainable Assignments Consultant, Boulder, Colorado

[MS WORD/81KB]

[PDF/38KB]

APPENDIX I: Natural Resources Trust and Stewardship
Proposed PCAP Items and Timeline
By Mary Christine Wood and Alison Burchell

[MS WORD/43KB]

[PDF/38KB]

National Climate Policy: Choosing the Right Architecture
By Robert Repetto
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

United States Climate Policy: Using Market-Based Strategies to Achieve Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
A June 2007 Report By Kevin Doran and Alaine Ginnochio
of The Energy & Environmental Security Initiative University Of Colorado Law School

Energy Policy Attachment 1
Status of Energy Technologies

International Development and Trade Policies and Programs Related to Climate Change
By Daphne Wysham, October 19, 2007

Combating Global Warming Through Sustainable Surface Transportation Policy
Prepared by The Center for Neighborhood Technology

[PDF/766KB]

Attachement 1
Transportation and Land Use Chapter Appendices