ＥＥＥ会議（米国の地球温暖化防止政策の現状）................................................................................031010
米国ブッシュ政権の地球温暖化政策は、そのエネルギー政策に比して著しく低調との
見方が一般的ですが、同政権も京都議定書とは別の方法で色々な対策を真面目に
講じつつある、ということです。 国務省のH.
Watson気候問題交渉担当官が１０月
８日
ブリュッセルのヨーロッパ政策センターで行った講演では、ヨーロッパ諸国のブッ
シュ
政権批判を意識してか、米国が取り組んでいる温暖化対策についての具体的な説明
を行っておりますが、その中で、とくに石炭のＣＯ２隔離・固定方法や水素エネル
ギー
（燃料電池）の開発に重点をおいていること、また原子力については第４世代の新型
炉
の開発や核融合(ITER)計画への積極的参加を強調していることなどが注目されます。
とく目新しいものではありませんが、これらに関係する部分を抜粋してご紹介しま
す。
ご参考まで。
--KK
**********************************************
U.S.
CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
Delivered by Harlan Watson,
Senior Climate
Negotiator in the U.S. State Department
European Policy Centre in Brussels,
Belgium
October 8, 2003
(Excerpts)
With regard to technology,
there is a growing realization that existing
energy technologies, even with
substantial improvements, cannot meet the
growing global demand for energy
while delivering the emissions reductions
necessary to stabilize atmospheric
GHG concentrations. We need to develop
and deploy globally "transformational"
technologies葉hat is, revolutionary
changes in the technology of energy
production, distribution, storage,
conversion, and use. Some examples include
carbon sequestration, hydrogen,
and advanced nuclear technologies. The U.S.
is not only pursuing these
domestically, but is also leading three major
multilateral international
technology efforts and participating in a
fourth.
Carbon sequestration involves removing carbon dioxide from fossil
fuel
combustion emissions streams and permanently storing it in
deep
underground formations, such as depleted oil and gas
reservoirs,
unmineable coal seams, and deep saline aquifers. It is a top
priority for
the United States because of our large coal reserves and the
fact that
fossil fuels will continue for the foreseeable future to be the
world's
most reliable and lowest-cost energy resources. The International
Energy
Agency projects a 50 percent increase in worldwide coal use
for
electricity generation over the next quarter century, most of it
in
developing countries such as China and India, which have large
coal
reserves. The United States is currently working with private
sector
partners on 65 carbon sequestration projects around the country, and
we
have increased our carbon sequestration budget by 60
percent.
International cooperation in carbon sequestration research is
also a key
aspect of our approach. The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum,
a Bush
Administration initiative, is a multilateral effort to
advance
technologies that capture and store carbon emissions. The Forum
was
inaugurated formally at a ministerial meeting in June, during which
13
coal producing and consuming nations and the European Commission signed
an
international charter establishing a framework for cooperative
research
and development. The Forum's partners, who include the United
Kingdom and
Italy, will also be invited to participate in our $1 billion
[$1,000
million] FutureGen project預n initiative to design and construct the
first
emission-free coal-fired power plant. FutureGen will be one of the
boldest
steps our nation takes toward a pollution-free energy future. It will
be a
living prototype, testing the latest technologies to generate
electricity,
produce hydrogen, and sequester GHG emissions from coal. We
expect that
FutureGen will help lead to the development of clean fossil fuel
power
plants all across the world and will allow this abundant and
economical
fuel source to continue producing energy without its
traditional
environmental side-effects.
Looking beyond traditional
energy sources, earlier this year President
Bush announced his groundbreaking
plan to change our nation's energy
future to one that utilizes the most
abundant element in the
universe揺ydrogen. Hydrogen represents one of the most
attractive options
to meet both our energy and environmental goals. It has a
high-energy
content, it produces no pollution when used to create energy in
fuel
cells, and it can be produced from a number of different
sources,
including renewable resources, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy.
Over the
next five years, the United States has pledged $1.7 billion
[$1,700
million] to fund the ambitious FreedomCAR and Hydrogen Fuel
Initiative to
develop emission-free automotive operating systems that run on
hydrogen.
The United States has called for the establishment of an
International
Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy with a ministerial meeting
planned
for November in Washington to coordinate multinational research
and
development programs to accelerate the transition to a global
hydrogen
economy. Fifteen potential international partners, including the
European
Union, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, are expected
to
participate. The public-private collaborations envisioned under
the
Partnership will address the technological, financial, and
institutional
barriers to hydrogen and develop internationally recognized
technology
standards to speed market penetration of new hydrogen-based
technologies.
We also have to recognize nuclear energy as a clean energy
choice, both in
the near- and longer-term. The U.S.-led Generation IV
program, comprised
of 11 international partners including the United Kingdom
and France, is
working on new fission reactor designs that will be safer,
more economical
and secure, and able to produce new products, such as
hydrogen.
Also, earlier this year President Bush announced that the
United States
would rejoin the International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor (ITER),
an ambitious international project also involving Canada,
China, the
European Commission, Japan, Russia and South Korea, to develop
nuclear
fusion as a future energy source. Although the technical hurdles of
fusion
energy are high, we feel the promise of this technology is simply
too
great to ignore.
Taken together, these multilateral research and
technology initiatives, if
successful, add up to what can only be described
as a long-term revolution
in our energy systems. Not only will these
technologies put us on a
long-term path to stabilizing atmospheric GHG
concentrations, they will
also ensure secure, reliable, affordable, and clean
energy to power
economic growth and development across the globe.
In
closing, I want to emphasize that the United States takes the issue
of
climate change very seriously and remains committed to the U.N.
Framework
Convention on Climate Change. We are investing billions to dollars
to
address the climate change傭oth in the near-term and long-term. We
are
also fully engaged internationally, and are leading major multilateral
and
bilateral climate change initiatives洋any of which involve a number of
the
EU Member States and the European Commission. While we differ in
our
approaches to addressing climate change, we must keep in mind that we
are
all working toward the same goal, and that we all cooperate in
this
important effort.
Thank you for your attention, and I welcome
your questions and comments.