Note to Obama: Promote Carbon Cap and Trade Efforts at the Summit of the Americas

This week, U.S. President Barack Obama will head to Trinidad and Tobago for the 5th Summit of the Americas. He will meet with leaders from Western Hemisphere Nations and discuss a number of pressing issues such as the worldwide economic crisis, U.S. relations with Cuba, trade, energy, conservation, illegal immigration, poverty, and drugs.

Should we expect anything meaningful to happen on the conservation front as a result of the summit and Obama’s new approach toward international relations?

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Probably not. But after giving it some thought, I think that the Summit will actually present Obama with an opportunity to begin discussing one of the more important environmental initiatives that would strengthen political, social, and economic ties in the Americas: a carbon cap and trade program.

In fact, discussing a cap and trade program would be as timely as it could be, with the U.S. Congressional Branch commencing debate on legislation this week, complete with a new plan for carbon cap and trade.

To make a brief but relevant aside, some critics, such as the well-known journalist Thomas Friedman say that carbon cap and trade is too complicated to work. Friedman believes that the current effort to cap carbon will be killed politically by Obama’s rival party as “a tax.” He recommends instead that Obama push for a directly labeled “carbon tax” that is simplistic for the public to understand and free from political attacks that utilize distortion to falsely characterize the reasons for a “cap and trade program.” I’m glad that David Roberts at The Huffington Post has already addressed Freidman’s idiotic view from several perspectives, because I also have my gripes.

What Friedman forgot to mention in his column is that a cap and trade system enacted by the United States might be highly beneficial economically and conservation wise to nations throughout the Americas, whereas a carbon tax would be largely an insular action by the United States. The Europe Union in fact hopes that they would be able to link their emission trading scheme to an American one created during Obama’s presidency.

Closer to home, Mexico, one of the U.S.’s most misunderstood and important neighbors, has voluntarily made efforts to half its carbon emissions. Mexico would most certainly like to participate in an international efforts as well, especially as illegal immigration and drugs have become stressful issues for the U.S. and Mexico. Carbon cap and trade could be a cornerstone for a more positive relationship between the two nations.

On the other hand, a colleague of mine writes that there have been recent reports that Canada and the U.S. will not be joining forces on carbon trading, although I think this more so has to do with a technicality of creating a joint program from the get-go, rather than cooperating in the long-term on cap and trade efforts. It’s also possible that Obama could put pressure on Brazil, the key player in South America to support cap and trade efforts, rather than pursuing their current plan for conserving the Amazon Rainforest through financial bailouts.

Perhaps I’m an idealist, but wouldn’t it be great if a country like Bolivia could get paid handsomely for protecting its sections of the Amazon Rainforest? Or if a country torn to shreds by disaster like Haiti might regain some dignity by reforesting areas, alleviating the danger of catastrophic floods, and make money at the same time as industries in the U.S. keep producing carbon, but instead pay for it?

Herein is the idea with cap and trade. Someone pays the price for producing carbon, while someone else reaps the benefit from finding ways to reduce the important greenhouse gas’s release. Is it really that complicated to understand? A tax on carbon would simply lower carbon production in the U.S., while avoiding to deal with the problem throughout the rest of the world.

I’m not saying that it will be easy to develop a fair cap and trade system internationally, or to develop a a fair system even within the U.S. alone. But I think that in the Summit of the Americas, Obama will find willing partners if he asks for them. Impoverished nations would love to find an alternative to natural resource exploitation and extraction that allows their citizens to improve their quality of life. A cap and trade system might play a big part in doing it. Let’s hope that the discussion about cap and trade efforts does indeed begin at the Summit.

Image Credit: Summit of the Americas Information Network

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