Statement To the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce

In a statement to the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, World Resources Institute President Jonathan Lash advocates for immediate national climate legislation. He cites accelerating climate impacts, such as record Arctic sea ice loss and pine beetle outbreaks in British Columbia, as evidence of the need for urgent action. The statement proposes an economy-wide, market-driven cap-and-trade program combined with investments in energy efficiency, grid modernization, and carbon capture to stimulate economic growth and ensure technological competitiveness.

• Current climate trends are accelerating faster than previous models predicted, with observed consequences resulting from 0.8 degrees centigrade of warming and projections trending toward the high end.
• Specific environmental indicators demonstrate rapid change: Arctic sea ice reached a record low of 4.13 million km2 from June through September 2007, and mountain pine beetle outbreaks in British Columbia impacted 13 million hectares by 2007, with projections suggesting 78% of pine volume could be killed by 2015.
• The U.S. Climate Action Partnership (US CAP) recommends an economy-wide, market-driven approach centered on a cap-and-trade program with specified greenhouse gas emission limits, cost-containment measures, and federal funding for technology research and deployment.
• To achieve a low-carbon transition, the U.S. should prioritize energy efficiency in buildings, modernization of the electric grid, stimulation of low-carbon electricity, deployment of carbon capture and storage for coal-fired plants, and improvements to transportation efficiency.
• U.S. domestic action is necessary to maintain global technological competitiveness and should not be contingent on the actions of other countries, given the U.S. is the largest historical contributor to temperature and greenhouse gas increases.

APA

Lash, J. (2009). Statement To the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. World Resources Institute. https://www.wri.org/publications/statement-us-house-representatives-committee-energy-and-commerce

Chicago

Lash, Jonathan. Statement To the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. World Resources Institute, 2009. https://www.wri.org/publications/statement-us-house-representatives-committee-energy-and-commerce.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Lash |first1=Jonathan |title=Statement To the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=15 January 2009 |url=https://www.wri.org/publications/statement-us-house-representatives-committee-energy-and-commerce |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{lash2009statement, author = {Lash, Jonathan}, title = {{Statement To the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce}}, publisher = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2009}, month = jan, url = {https://www.wri.org/publications/statement-us-house-representatives-committee-energy-and-commerce}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }