Updated 08 Jan 2007

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama earned a 96 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters for his first two years representing Illinois in the U.S. Senate, but enviros were still skeptical in the early months of his presidential campaign, particularly over his (now heavily qualified) support for coal-to-liquids technology and his unvarnished enthusiasm for ethanol in all its forms. He earned more respect from greens with an October 2007 speech unveiling an aggressive climate and energy plan.

Read an interview with Barack Obama by Grist and Outside.

 

Key Points

• Calls for cutting U.S. carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Would accomplish this through a cap-and-trade system that would auction off 100 percent of emissions permits, making polluters pay for the CO2 they emit.
  
   
• Would channel revenue raised from auctioning emissions permits -- between $30 billion and $50 billion a year -- toward developing and deploying clean energy technology, creating "green jobs," and helping low-income Americans afford higher energy bills.
  
   
• Calls for 25 percent of U.S. electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025, and for 30 percent of the federal government's electricity to come from renewables by 2020.
  
   
• Proposes investing $150 billion over 10 years in R&D for renewables, biofuels, efficiency, "clean coal," and other clean tech.
  
   
• Calls for improving energy efficiency in the U.S. 50 percent by 2030.
  
   
• Calls for 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be used in the U.S. each year by 2022 and 60 billion gallons of biofuels to be used in the U.S. each year by 2030.
  
   
• Calls for all new buildings in the U.S. to be carbon neutral by 2030.
  
   
• Calls for reducing U.S. oil consumption by at least 35 percent, or 10 million barrels a day, by 2030. Introduced the Health Care for Hybrids Act, which would have the federal government help cover health-care costs for retired U.S. autoworkers in exchange for domestic auto companies investing at least 50 percent of the savings into production of more fuel-efficient vehicles.
  
   
• Supports raising fuel-economy standards for automobiles to 40 miles per gallon and light trucks to 32 mpg by 2020.
  
   
• Supports a phaseout of incandescent light bulbs by 2014.
  
   
• Cosponsor of the Boxer-Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the most stringent climate bill in the Senate.
  
   
• Cosponsor of the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act. After being badgered by MoveOn and other progressives over the issue, he "clarified" his position by saying he would support liquefied coal only if it emitted 20 percent less carbon over its lifecycle