The National Climate Change Technology Initiative :: Environmental Policy Politics

The National Climate Change Technology Initiative (NCCTI) On June 11, 2001, in combination with his creation of the U.S Climate Research Initiative, President Bush stated that the United States is a world leader in technology and innovation and new technologies can offer a great advance towards climate change. As a result, Bush created a complement to the Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), called the National Climate Change Technology Initiative (NCCTI). The goal of NCCTI was to make the U.S a stronger leader of climate change-related technology research and development by improving research and development investments across U.S. agencies and by focusing the Federal R&D portfolio on Bush's climate change goal, both near and long term. NCCTI adds on to an extensive foundation of ongoing activities in R&D of climate change-related technologies. The President said on June 11, 2001: "We're creating the National Climate Change Technology Initiative to strengthen research at universities and national labs, to enhance partnerships in applied research, to develop improved technology for measuring and monitoring gross and net greenhouse gas emissions, and to fund demonstration projects for cutting-edge technologies, such as bioreactors and fuel cells."(5) Potential impacts of technology on a global scale are relatively long-term, the NCCTI is guided over this by the climate change goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 (Kyoto Protocol), ratified by the United States and more than 170 other countries (5) (3). The UNFCCC calls for the "... stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."(5) In order to achieve this long-term goal, net emissions of greenhouse gases on a global scale must ultimately approach levels that are lower than they are today. (1) Current activities of the NCCTI include a thorough and continuing review of all climate change technology-related research and development programs, with focus on improving the integration of supporting basic research activities. The NCCTI interagency working group is developing criteria to identify high-priority programs that may have the largest potential impact in the long term for reducing, avoiding, or sequestering greenhouse gas emissions.(5)(4) NCCTI also includes a proposal to fund a unique competitive solicitation program, in which technology research ideas will be funded on the basis of their potential to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions.