Pitch
The US Government needs restructuring to assimilate,integrate,prioritize, and implement plans, policies, budgets, and programs to fight AGW.
Description
Summary
Without an adequate Federal management structure, US efforts at all levels to mitigate and adapt to climate change for the long haul will be disorganized, suffer from intra-agency priorities, and fall short of the concerted, integrated, resourced, decades long effort that is needed. Major efforts needed can take many years of planning, funding, and lifecycle development.
The Federal government needs to put an organization in place that is resourced, focused, empowered, and has direct access to the NSC and the President. It would likely be integrated with or drawn from existing agencies like DOE, DOD, et al. It could encompass a Manhattan Project resource level effort involving public and private sectors to, at a minimum, demarcate more clearly what paths will not, or are not likely, to meet time phased goals. But it would also identify high ROI investment areas, likely causing re-programming of budgets. For example, it might identify a need for much greater modeling and simulation, or expanded satellite capacities, which, without a more integrated plan, would fall by the wayside or not be designed in a way to support combating AGW. Or it might call for an expanded Climate Bond program like the War Bonds of WW II.
Without a multi-level roadmap laying out how we as a nation get to climate goals, for both mitigation and adaptation, that drills down to priorities, agencies, budgets, policies, planning and execution responsibilities, focus on what specific agencies should do puts the cart before the horse since policy and programs will be at cross purposes and suboptimal.
Without a roadmap, dynamically updated to incorporate new technology, market considerations, and environmental realities, the US will be forced to default to damaging solutions
.Addressing AGW needs to be better institutionalized than a USGCRP to provide long term committment. The USGCRP Strategic Plan is long on understanding, certainly important, but short on recommended mitigation actions.
Category of the action
Mitigation - What U.S. Federal Agencies can do to mitigate climate change
What actions do you propose?
The interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force should be expanded to a mitigation and adaptation task force to determine current governmental organizational shortfalls in addressing climate change, and provide preliminary recommendations NLT 4 months to the President in such areas as :
needed restructuring/new organizations , and mission statements
funding required,
relationships to the Executive Office and agencies and Congress, and the USGCRP,
next steps
Who will take these actions?
The President should enact the expanded task force. Waivers should. exempt the task force from normally required actions on procurement, etc..DOE may be a hosting or supporting agency for task force operational requirements.
The team might include members of the NSC, NSF, Science Board, DOE, DOD, OMB, and private sector, among others, to cover relevant areas of expertise. Utilize current structures in place at the USGCRP.
Where will these actions be taken?
anywhere the team decides
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
To be determined.
What are other key benefits?
Begins planning in long lead time efforts for mitigation.
Prioritizes and integrates plans and budgeting across agency lines for coherent AGW approach
identifies new initiatives for investment
What are the proposal’s costs?
TBD. The task force would probably cost a million or two at most in the initial stages.
Time line
Timeline might look like this:
Month 1 task force created
Month 5 task force first recommendations for restructuring
Month 5 and on: Begin interim recommendations/initiatives
Month 12 - 24 Restructuring standup
Related proposals
References
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf