Five Innovation Initiatives for 2008

Five Innovation Initiatives for 2008
Getting the economics right can win lasting environmental solutions
Environmental Defense

How can we best implement environmental protections that last? One way is by getting the economics right.

Over the last two decades, we've worked with companies, policy makers, ranchers, fishermen and others to leverage market and business incentives to develop and promote lasting environmental goals, from species protections to cleaner air to healthier food choices and more.

Here are Five Innovation Initiatives for 2008 that adopt this powerful, innovative approach to environmental stewardship.


Initiative #1: Fighting Global Warming
Global warming is the most serious environmental threat of our time. But after years of debate, Congress still hasn't passed national climate legislation.

Luckily, 2007 was a year of incredible progress in the fight against global warming and set the perfect stage for a national climate bill to be passed in 2008.

Fighting global warming is our number one priority this year. We support a cap-and-trade approach, which sets a hard cap on America's global warming pollution and harnesses the forces of markets to achieve cost-effective emission reductions.

This approach provides economic incentives to inventors, businesses and entrepreneurs to invent and deploy new and existing technologies to reduce America's global warming pollution. The cap gives us the emission reductions we need, while the ability to trade pollution credits rewards innovation.

With staff on the ground across the country and a team of legislative experts on Capitol Hill, we will do everything we can to bring both House and Senate together in agreement on a national, economy-wide cap on global warming pollution.

Waiting a mere two years to pass legislation will double the annual rate at which the US must cut emissions in order to bring them down to where they need to be by 2020.

2008 is the year for the global warming action. We have no time to lose.


Initiative #2: Clean Cities
Traffic congestion is getting worse in nearly every major American city, and many of the smaller ones, too. People are spending more time on clogged roads, wasting fuel, polluting our air and contributing to global warming.

But there are innovative new tools that can help. For example, New Yorkers and the environment celebrated a big win in 2007 when Mayor Bloomberg announced his visionary 'greenprint' for New York City.

A centerpiece of PlaNYC is congestion pricing - using traffic fees to reduce congestion and invest in public transportation throughout the city. And, congestion pricing would help reach Mayor Bloomberg's goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2030 in NYC.

This spring, the state legislature and city council will be making do-or-die decisions about congestion pricing. Green building incenitves and ways to encourage redevelopment of vacant induatrial lands --"brownfields" -- are on tap for policy changes in the next 18 months.

We are already working to promote changes like these in other major cities across the country. And we have been invited to advise on transportation reform in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Mexico City.

Economics-based tools like congestion pricing are critical to our efforts to make transportation more efficient and less polluting. As the planet becomes more and more urbanized, getting the price signals right is key to a healthy future.


Initiative #3: Sustainable Farming
The Farm Bill is the largest source of conservation funding in America. Passing a Farm Bill in 2008 that takes better care of farmers and the environment remains one of our top priorities.

The current House and Senate versions of the bill allow millionaire farmers to continue collecting unlimited subsidies and leave conservation, nutrition and rural development programs critically underfunded.

As the bill goes to conference, we will keep the pressure on, highlighting the weaknesses in both versions and the importance of equitable, common-sense reforms. We will also work to protect the nearly $5 billion in new conservation funding in these two versions of the bill -- not enough to meet farmer demand, but a critical step in the right direction.

Our Farm Bill legislative work goes hand-in-hand with our other Land, Water & Wildlife work using win-win incentives to encourage ranchers, farmers and other private landowners to restore and conserve endangered species habitat, wetlands and watersheds and reduce harmful runoff.

In 2008, we will continue to encourage and reward voluntary conservation practices with financial, technical and legal assurance incentives. Our team will maintain ongoing partnerships with landowners and private land interests across the country, while developing new incentive-based projects and working for increased use of voluntary incentive programs.


Initiative #4: Sustainable Seafood
Higher profits, less waste and safer fishing practices are desirable for any commercial fisherman. Environmental Defense found success in all three areas this year with the implementation of a precedent-setting catch share program for the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico.

Just 12 months after the program began, preliminary data show that the fishing season has lengthened, the price of red snapper has increased and bycatch - the unintentional killing of fish - has declined by at least half.

Catch share programs allocate a share of the yearly catch to individual fishermen. This rewards conservation practices and allows fishermen to maximize their profit by buying and selling shares with others.

In 2008, while continuing to monitor and ensure the success of the red snapper program, Environmental Defense will work to increase active catch share programs across the country by at least 50 percent. Our Oceans team is working to secure approval for programs on the West Coast, in the South Atlantic and New England.

We will also work to create higher market demand for environmentally sustainable seafood in the coming year.


Initiative #5: Corporate Partnerships
We have a unique, market-based approach of working directly with companies to improve business practices and reduce their environmental footprints. We work to influence the buying power of large corporations to affect the way goods and services are produced. Changes along the supply chain will reach customers world-wide, resulting, over time, in significant environmental progress.

We are working with Wal-Mart to develop packaging reduction and greenhouse gas emissions goals for its major suppliers and to create market demand for renewable energy. With nearly 200 million customers each week, 61,000 suppliers and 5300 stores world-wide, the largest company in the world has an unprecedented capacity to affect major environmental change.

We are working with Wegmans Food Stores to bring healthier seafood choices to consumers. Together we've developed new purchasing standards for farmed salmon and farmed shrimp that will prevent fish farming from destroying eco-systems, using needless chemicals and antibiotics, and threatening wild fish populations. Wegmans stores are the first to stock eco-friendly farmed salmon and shrimp that meet these more stringent health and environmental standards. The next step is for major food suppliers to adopt these same standards.

Even in this increasingly online world, paper use continues to rise. Our Corporate Partnerships team recognized a need to help companies reduce paper use and costs. The result was an online Paper Calculator tool that allows companies large and small to calculate the environmental benefits of better paper choices. Each month, companies such as Random House, Staples, PepsiCo, and Starbucks use our Paper Calculator to assess their paper purchases.

In 2008, we will forge ahead with our existing partnerships and move towards cultivating partnerships with new corporations. In keeping with our market-based approach, company interests and environmental progress will remain our foremost priorities.

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