The United States needs strong action now to reduce the risks of climate change, strengthen energy independence, protect national security, and create new jobs and economic opportunities. The Pew
Center on Global Climate Change believes that the case for action has never been stronger. With a strong energy and climate policy the United States can lead the 21st century clean energy economy.

In the last decade, rising and volatile energy prices coupled with increasing concern about climate change and growing support for action on energy and environmental issues has driven a surge of corporate environmental commitments. Energy efficiency has emerged as a key component of these commitments.

This report highlights the important role of the federal government in reducing the vulnerability and strengthening the resiliency of economy and natural resources in the face of these changes.

The petroleum sector, which includes the production, import, processing, transportation, and distribution of crude oil and refined products such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel, propane, and jet fuel, is a significant source of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Combined, aviation and marine transportation are responsible for approximately 5 percent of total greenhouse (GHG) emissions in the United States and 3 percent globally and are among the fastest growing modes in the transportation sector. Controlling the growth in these emissions will be an important part of reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

Policy-relevant results of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) are sensitive to a number of uncertain assumptions that govern model simulation of the climate, society, and the policy response to climate change. Uncertainties remain in understanding of the rate and magnitude of climate change, the nature and severity of climate impacts, and the ability to cope with those impacts.

A new global climate agreement will be most effective if parties are confident that it enables them to assess how well others are fulfilling their obligations. This can be achieved through a rigorous system of measurement, reporting, and verification.

Transportation is the second largest contributor to total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and responsible for about one-third of U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. There are a variety of policy strategies that can be used to address GHG emissions from the transportation sector; this paper focuses on two such mechanisms.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of the world

Wind and solar power could become a major source of electricity for the United States, but only if the nation adopts new policies that promote renewable energy and that place a price on carbon. The report cites figures showing that renewable energy sources currently provide only a small fraction of U.S.