Commentary by John C. Topping, Jr., President, Climate Institute

en Espanol

Gov. Fidel Herrera Veracruz, Mexico	Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, U.S.A.

Although they might not agree on all critical issues, Governors Herrera and Schwarzenegger have both taken significant steps to confront the problem of global climate change, with visions that far surpass those of their countries’ federal governments.

Charles Dickens’ The Tale of Two Cities opens, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” This might also aptly describe the plight of the global environment. Even before the Kyoto Protocol went into force, an insightful analysis by the Christian Science Monitor showed that new coal fired power plants projected to be built in China, India and the US alone would produce roughly five times the total greenhouse emissions expected to be reduced by the 35 countries that have agreed to be bound by Kyoto limitations. Meanwhile, evidence has begun to accumulate that climate change is underway and that its pace may be quickening. Perhaps the most riveting of these was the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment issued in November 2004 showing widespread change underway throughout the Arctic region and projecting a possible disappearance of sea ice in the summer throughout the Arctic by the end of the current century.

Actions of most national leaders, even those of Kyoto signatory countries, have seemed woefully inadequate to address the rapidly gathering climate crisis. Yet, in contrast and surprisingly, two weeks before World Environment Day — June 5 — some remarkable actions by two Governors — Fidel Herrera Beltran of Veracruz, Mexico’s leading energy state, and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, the US’s most populous state — provided hope that humanity may yet act to avert runaway climate change that might threaten many coastal areas and water parched regions.

On May 20 Governor Herrera gathered much of the political and educational leadership of Veracruz as well as news media to announce that the State of Veracruz would provide support for the construction and operation of the High Altitude Global Climate Observing Center on Cofre de Perote, a peak above Veracruz’s capital city, Xalapa. The highest altitude Global Atmospheric Watch climate observing station will be run by the Climate Institute’s Mexican partner group, Sistema Internacional de Monitoreo Ambiental (SIMA), led by Luis Roberto Acosta. This station, to be situated about 4,200 meters above sea level (just over 14,000 feet), will have the highest altitude ozone layer measurements and CO2 monitors in the world. It will be situated at 19 degrees 30 North, almost the identical latitude as Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory. SIMA will also build a reference regional station at sea level in the State of Veracruz. SIMA also plans to locate at the high altitude observatory monitors to track ultraviolet radiation and dust particles, some possibly transported across the Atlantic from Africa.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States has already responded to Governor Herrera’s initiative by offering to provide instrumentation and technical assistance. The high altitude station and the sea level station in the State of Veracruz will become two of a handful of CO2 observing stations in NOAA’s global observation network as well as part of the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Atmospheric Watch.

SIMA has already pioneered in the Mexico City area in placing UV and air quality data on line and making it available in a very user friendly way. It is planning to extend this coverage to other cities of Mexico and to mega-cities throughout Latin America. It is anticipated that much of this activity will be incorporated into the new observatory and information and research center SIMA will locate in the Xalapa area, near the high altitude monitoring station.

Only six months into a six-year term that ends in December 2010, Governor Herrera seems determined during his term of office to transform Veracruz into Mexico’s model state on the global environment and clean energy. As a member of the Federal Congress he was one of the senior Mexican representatives at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. His state will now become the first state or province in the world to provide significant funding to a global CO2 monitoring center. In discussions he had with SIMA and myself representing the Climate Institute, Governor Herrera made clear his determination to go well beyond this initial step to make Veracruz a model for Mexico and the World on how a state should respond to climate change. The governor pointed out that about 35% of the water of Mexico flows through the State of Veracruz so it has great potential for forestation and small- scale hydropower. Aware of the Climate Institute’s efforts in several small island nations to move them toward a renewable energy – based economy, he indicated interest in having the Climate Institute and SIMA, with local stakeholder input, identify ways Veracruz might effectively respond to climate change and diversify its energy mix to include many emerging forms of renewable energy.

If Governor Herrera succeeds in achieving his ambitious goal of making Veracruz Mexico’s model for clean energy, this will be quite a breakthrough. In many respects Veracruz might be compared more to Texas than any other US state.  It produces about 18% of Mexico’s oil, and Pemex, the national oil company, is a major employer in the state. Veracruz also is the site of Mexico’s only nuclear power plant whose two units produce just under 40% of Veracruz’s electricity with virtually all of the rest coming from oil- burning and often highly polluting plants. Like Texas, Veracruz has a lot of Gulf of Mexico coastline- about 450 miles- and its coasts are periodically ravaged by tropical storms and hurricanes.

While Gov. Herrera is making unprecedented progress in combating climate change at the state level in Mexico, a more well-known governor in the United States – Arnold Schwarzenegger of California - is also making very noteworthy headway. Although most environmentalists were initially skeptical of Schwarzenegger in light of his personal fondness for gas guzzling vehicles such as Hummers, many have found him to be an even more effective environmental champion than his predecessor, Gray Davis. The California Republican Governor who succeeded Davis after a recall effort has surprised once skeptical environmentalists by his appointments to key positions in the environmental and natural resources area and by his vigorous advocacy of a transformation to hydrogen as a replacement for gasoline. Governor Schwarzenegger has already started to lay the groundwork for this transformation by seeking to build at least 100 fueling stations for hydrogen vehicles.

Schwarzenegger moved well past this earlier advocacy when he announced in San Francisco June 1 an Environmental Action Plan that ultimately seeks by 2050 a reduction of California’s greenhouse emissions 80% below 1990 levels. Given likely population growth, this may entail a slash in per capita emissions of more than 90%. Schwarzenegger’s three-tiered plan was announced at a press conference June 1, the day before the opening of a United Nations Conference on Green Cities hosted by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The California Governor signed an executive order that sets out this Environmental Action Plan. In its first phase the plan seeks to reduce California’s greenhouse emissions by 2010 to less than its levels of 2000 and in its second phase to reduce emissions by 2020 to less than levels in 1990. In view of the large anticipated growth in both population and economic activity California will need to make large advances in greenhouse intensity, i.e. much more efficient uses of the greenhouse gases it consumes and a shifting to less carbon intensive fuels, to achieve these goals.  The third phase of the plan- to achieve an 80% reduction below 1990 levels by 2050- is the most ambitious target yet set forth by an executive branch political leader in any major industrialized nation. Given California’s established reputation as a pacesetter for global trends whether in films, fashion or information technologies Schwarzenegger’s action may in many ways be a more significant breakthrough than the Kyoto Protocol that went into force on February 16, 2005.

These extraordinary actions of Governors in Mexico and the United States may be powerful assists in jump starting a climate protection process that has been badly stymied alike by the reluctance of the United States to shoulder much of the responsibility for climate protection and by the hesitancy of most developing countries, other than a few small island states, to commit to a clean energy transformation. Perhaps these will prove to be the best of times after all.