White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to downplay expectations among environmentalists and green businesses stating that the White House would support legislative moves to cut carbon emissions “whether that’s this year or next year”.

Obama is also reported to have sought to downplay expectations of rapid progress at a meeting this weekend with a group of US state governors. He said that getting proposals for a cap-and-trade regime through Congress would be harder than previously anticipated following the opposition the Republicans mounted against the stimulus package.

Just a week after President Obama signed into law around $100bn in green investment as part of his economic stimulus package, the White House has moved to downplay expectation its planned climate change bill will be passed by the end of the year.

Democratic leaders had signaled that they wanted the bill – which will include Obama’s plans for binding emission targets as part of a nationwide cap-and-trade scheme – in place ahead of the UN’s climate change conference in Copenhagen at the end of the year.

But following the staunch Republican opposition that dogged the passage of the economic stimulus bill, White House officials now openly accept that timetable could be beyond them.

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives had said legislation would be in place by May, while senators have also promised to introduce legislation before the end of the year.

But speaking to reporters yesterday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to downplay expectations among environmentalists and green businesses stating that the White House would support legislative moves to cut carbon emissions “whether that’s this year or next year”.

His comments were echoed by Nancy Sutley, the chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who said that while the US was still committed to playing a leading role at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, its leadership would not be dependent on climate change legislation being passed at home.

Under proposals set out on the campaign trail, Obama is aiming to introduce a nationwide cap-and-trade scheme modeled on that pioneered in the EU and designed to cut emissions from heavy polluters by 80 per cent by 2050.

In related developments, new research from HSBC’s Centre for Climate Change has found that despite widespread talk in political circles of Green New Deals, the vast majority of economic stimulus plans that have either been approved or are currently pending are failing to earmark enough investment for low carbon projects.

According to Lord Nicholas Stern, the author of the influential Stern Review, at least 20 per cent of stimulus packages should be targeted at green initiatives if long-term international emission targets are to be met.

However, only South Korea and China have so far exceeded that target with 69 per cent of South Korea’s $38bn package and 34 per cent of China’s $581bn spending plan earmarked for environmental projects.

In contrast, only 13 per cent of President Obama’s stimulus plan, 14 per cent of the EU recovery program, and two per cent of Japan’s package will focus on low carbon initiatives.

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2237125/team-obama-hints-delay-climate