OneWorld.net (U.S.)

NEW YORK, Sep 5 (OneWorld) - Major environmental groups across the United States are hailing California's historic move to reduce global warming emissions, amid renewed calls for federal agencies and other states to do the same.

Last week, after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged his support, both the state assembly and senate endorsed a bill that would reduce the state's carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2020.

"We commend California's business, faith-based, and legislative leaders who made this happen," said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, an independent group based in New York.

Frances Beinecke, president of the Washington, DC-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), described the state initiative as a source of "inspiration for all of us."

"The whole world has been watching to see whether California passes this bill," Beinecke said, "and now the whole world will watch as California takes the lead in developing a clean energy market."

Despite Thursday's California vote in favor of controlling greenhouse gas emissions, there is no sign of change in the thinking of Republican leadership that projects the view that reducing global warming would harm the U.S. economy.

Environmentalists think that California's initiative could dispel that myth, however, because it has the potential to spur investment in clean fuels, energy efficiency, and other cutting-edge technologies, which could lead to the creation of more jobs.

"This legislation gives Governor Schwarzenegger a clear path to market incentives to reduce global warming pollution while protecting California’s communities and environment," said Ann Notthoff, NRDC's advocacy director in California.

Under the new law, major industries, such as oil refineries and utilities, will be required to reduce their output of greenhouse gases. One of the key mechanisms designed to carry out reductions is a market program that will allow businesses to buy, sell, and trade emission credits with other companies.

The bill states that the 11-member California Air Resources Board must identify "market-based compliance mechanisms" that might be used as one of the means to achieve desired cuts in emissions.

With a 5 percent share of the world's population, the U.S. is currently responsible for 24 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and its vehicles account for about 10 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions at the global level.

The transportation sector accounts for 66 percent of U.S. petroleum use and 33 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the California-based Center for Biological Diversity.

Light trucks alone use more than 4 billion barrels of oil every day, accounting for more than 20 percent of U.S. oil consumption. They currently produce close to 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions of China, India, and Africa.

Light trucks in the U.S. account for more than half of new vehicle sales. The Center estimates that their oil consumption will likely reach 6 million barrels per day by 2017 absent a new policy action to increase gas mileage.

Still, the Bush administration continues to argue against any meaningful action on reducing greenhouse gases and has attempted time and again to cast doubt on the levels of global warming projected by the world's scientific community.

Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, as many as 34 industrialized countries are obliged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

The United States has shrugged off this responsibility because the Bush administration does not recognize the treaty.

Mindful that California happens to be the world's fifth largest economy and 12th largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, some environmentalists are raising hopes that it might prove to be a trendsetter in the coming days.

"Without the efforts of California and other states that will no doubt follow its lead," said Daniel Patterson, an ecologist at the Center, "the Bush administration would cement our nation's dependence on fossil fuels and further undermine our public health, environment, economy, and national security."

Patterson's assumption that other states will follow the California model seems realistic. On the same day the legislators in California voted for the bill, four former Environmental Protection Agency administrators and 19 states were filing Supreme Court briefs to force the administration into action on reducing global warming pollution.