For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 12, 2003
Statement by the President
The United States is taking prudent steps to address the long-term
challenge of global climate change. We are reducing projected
greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, while devoting greater
resources to improving climate change science and developing advanced
energy technologies. America has already made great progress in this
effort: Between 1990 and 2001, industrial sector emissions were held
constant, while our economy grew by almost 40 percent. Sustaining and
accelerating this progress will help us meet our goal of reducing the
greenhouse gas intensity of the American economy by 18 percent by
2012.
A year ago, I challenged American businesses to develop new,
voluntary initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I am pleased
to announce today that 12 major industrial sectors, and the membership
of the Business Roundtable, have responded with ambitious commitments
to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decade.
America's electric utilities; petroleum refiners and natural gas
producers; chemical, automotive, magnesium, iron and steel
manufacturers; forest and paper producers; railroads; the mining,
cement, aluminum and semiconductor industries; and many of America's
leading corporations have committed to actions that will prevent
millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decade. I
commend these initiatives which will help these businesses and
industries continue to improve their energy efficiency and overall
productivity, while contributing toward achieving our goal to reduce
the greenhouse gas intensity of the American economy.
As I said last year, every sector of the economy will need to
contribute to our efforts to achieve our ambitious national goal.
These initiatives are a first step in what we expect to be an ongoing
engagement with these and other sectors of our economy in the years
ahead.
Underpinning our approach to climate change is an understanding
that meeting this long-term challenge requires policies that recognize
that sustained economic growth is an essential part of the solution.
Policies that undermine the health of our economy would only hamper
America's ability to develop and deploy new energy technologies and
invest in energy efficiency and productivity improvements. The United
States is the world's leader in technological development, industrial
productivity, and environmental quality. These strengths make possible
the initiatives that have been announced today to reduce or capture and
store greenhouse gas emissions.
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