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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/omb/assets/legislative_reports/fcce-report-to-congress.pdf

http://data.globalchange.gov/assets/d0/67/6042585bce196769357e6501a78c/usgcrp-strategic-plan-2012.pdf

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf