SEATTLE, Washington, November 5, 2007 (ENS) - Mayors of the nation's largest cities are leading a climate protection movement that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 but say they cannot do it alone.

At the Seattle Climate Protection Summit Friday, more than 100 mayors stressed the importance of forming a federal partnership to boost energy independence and avert the worst impacts of global warming.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels initiated the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in 2005. (Photo courtesy Office of the Mayor)

"We are showing what is possible in light of climate change at the local level, but to reach our goal of 80 percent reductions in greenhouse gases by 2050, we need strong support from the federal government," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who hosted the Summit jointly with the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "Climate change presents a national security imperative for us, because our dependence on foreign oil has entangled our interests with tyrants and increased our exposure to terrorism. It's also an economic imperative, because clean energy is going to be the oil gusher of the 21st century."

Mayor Bloomberg called for a pollution fee to discourage practices that generate heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

"As long as greenhouse gas pollution is free, it will be abundant," Bloomberg said. "If we want to reduce it, there has to be a cost for producing it. The voluntary targets suggested by President Bush would be like voluntary speed limits - doomed to fail."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses his fellow mayors in Seattle. (Photo courtesy U.S. Conference of Mayors)

Comparing a cap-and-trade system with putting a price on carbon emissions, Bloomberg said, "A direct charge would eliminate the uncertainty that companies would face in a cap-and-trade system. It would be easier to implement and enforce, it would prevent special interests from opening up loopholes, and, it would create an opportunity to cut taxes.

"Both cap-and-trade and pollution pricing present their own challenges, but there is an important difference between the two," Bloomberg said. "The primary flaw of cap-and-trade is economic - price uncertainty; while the primary flaw of a pollution fee is political - the difficulty of getting it through Congress."

"But I've never been one to let short-term politics get in the way of long-term success," said Bloomberg, who has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate on an independent ticket.

Bloomberg and other mayors called for increased research and development for climate protection and an increase in fuel efficiency standards.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said, "Mayors need to lead the way on global warming, we need to change the way we do business in America." The mayor emphasized his commitment to build subways and use alternative energies, including plug-in hybrid cars.

On Thursday, the Conference of Mayors announced a new partnership with the Clinton Foundation's Climate Initiative, CCI, which will allow 1,100 U.S. cities to gain access to volume discounts on energy-efficient and clean-energy products and technologies through CCI's purchasing consortium.

This discount, on products ranging from energy efficient light bulbs to environmentally friendly building materials, was previously only available to participants of the C40 Large Cities Climate Leadership Group, a group of 40 of the world's largest cities that are working together to fight climate change.

Keeping America's vehicles fueled up is becoming more and more costly. (Photo courtesy FreeFoto.com)

Wal-Mart, one of the world's largest purchasers of green technologies, will help these cities buy green. By using their combined purchasing power, CCI and Wal-Mart will further drive down the prices of green technologies and work together to develop new energy efficient products, such as improved lighting fixtures for parking lots and heating ventilating and air conditioning systems that will improve ventilation in buildings, and new or improved methods to create clean energy.

Due to the recent steep rise in global energy prices, the mayors called on Congress to complete its work on energy efficiency legislation by the end of the year and send it to the president for his signature.

Crude oil closed at a record price Friday - $95.93 a barrel - amid worries that growing demand and tensions with Iran will send prices over $100 a barrel.

Prices are forecast to rise again this week on speculation that OPEC will not increase production as fast as consumption grows this winter.

Congress is currently considering energy legislation that would raise fuel economy standards for America's vehicles to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, increase the use of renewable energy, and create millions of new green collar jobs.

Traffic on the Interstate 5 winds through downtown Seattle. (Photo courtesy Washington DOT)

"If the legislation is passed with all the best elements intact, it would save more than twice the amount of oil America currently imports from the Persian Gulf, and reduce the total amount of U.S. heat-trapping emissions by roughly 40 percent of what's needed to save the planet from dangerous global warming, all by 2030," said Congressman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

The committee held a hearing in Seattle Friday to get ideas from mayors about local energy strategies that could be used as national models.

"The time to act is now, America deserves strong leadership that will help us become energy independent, protect the environment and create good paying jobs," said Conference President Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer. "Mayors are leading by example, and we need a strong partnership with the federal government to achieve our national priority of energy independence."

The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement has now been signed by 710 mayors, representing 25 percent of the American population. Mayors who sign the agreement commit to reduce carbon emissions locally by seven percent below their 1990 levels, in line with the Kyoto Protocol.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.