Recent Reports Underscore Urgency of Climate Action and Roles for Biofuels, Agriculture, & Forestry

The President’s call to climate action was supported by several recent government reports regarding: a) rapidly rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations; b) rapidly rising financial risks to the federal government posed by climate change; c) rising risks to American agriculture and forestry; d) the failure of the international community to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions quickly enough; and e) the ways in which the United States could dramatically reduce GHG emissions from its transportation sector, including with the use of biofuels.

• In May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the mean concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, had surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since measurements began. This CO2 concentration is 43 percent higher than it was before the industrial revolution (280 ppm). NOAA observed that "Today’s rate of increase is more than 100 times faster than the increase that occurred when the last ice age ended."
   
• In February, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report GAO’s High Risk Series 2013: An Update that, for the first time, included climate change among the high risk issues facing the federal government. The report states that " climate change creates significant financial risks for the federal government, which owns extensive infrastructure, such as defense installations; insures property through the National Flood Insurance Program; and provides emergency aid in response to natural disasters. The federal government is not well positioned to address the fiscal exposure presented by climate change, and needs a government wide strategic approach with strong leadership to manage related risks ."
   
• In February, the USDA released two draft reports on the implications of climate change for agriculture and forestry: Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation and Effects of Climate Variability and Change on Forest Ecosystems: A Comprehensive Science Synthesis for the U.S. Forest Sector. The forestry report warns that, due to climate change, wildfires in the U.S. will likely be at least twice as destructive by 2050, burning as much as 20 million acres per year nationwide. (More than 9.3 million acres burned in 2012, one of the worst seasons on record so far.)
   
• In April, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report Tracking Clean Energy Progress 2013 . The report observed that the world is failing to take adequate steps quickly enough to prevent an increase in global temperatures beyond two degrees Celsius. Among a variety of recommendations, the IEA called for policies and actions to double global sustainable biofuel production by 2020.
   
• In March, the National Research Council released a report Petroleum Use, Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Automobiles Could Drop 80 Percent by 2050; Efficiency, Alternative Fuels, and Strong Government Policies Will Be Needed . The report found that the United States could reduce petroleum dependence and greenhouse gas emissions from light vehicles by 80 percent by 2050 " via a combination of more efficient vehicles; the use of alternative fuels like biofuels, electricity, and hydrogen; and strong government policies to overcome high costs and influence consumer choices ."