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• Expanding domestic oil and natural gas exploration and production: Lift the current federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf because it stands in the way of energy exploration and production. Instead of spending hundreds of billions of dollars to buy foreign oil from hostile and unstable suppliers, tapping these reserves can save trillions of exported dollars. Forty-one percent of the US trade deficit is due to imported oil. The reserve of recoverable natural gas is estimated to be 77 trillion cubic feet.
• Commit $2 billion annually to advancing clean coal technologies. Coal produces the majority of the US electricity currently. Viable clean coal technologies may be over 15 years away but federal funds for science, research and development can shorten this time. The technologies will be welcomed in other countries such as China which rely heavily on coal. .
• Construct 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 with the ultimate goal of eventually constructing 100 new plants. Currently, nuclear power produces 20% of the nation's power, but the U.S. has not begun construction on a new nuclear power plant in over three decades. The U.S. should build the components for these plants and reactors domestically.
• A permanent tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on R&D to simplify the tax code, reward activity in the U.S., and increase competition.
• Encourage the market for alternative, low carbon fuels such as wind, hydro and solar power. According to the Department of Energy, wind could provide as much as one-fifth of electricity by 2030. The U.S. solar energy industry continued its double-digit annual growth rate in 2006. Instead of the patchwork of temporary tax credits, provide an even-handed system of tax credits that will remain in place until the market transforms sufficiently to the point where renewable energy no longer merits the taxpayers' dollars.

• Clean Car Challenge: a single $5,000 tax credit for each and every customer who buys a zero carbon emission car, an incentive to automakers. A graduated tax credit will apply so that the lower the carbon emissions, the higher the tax credit.
• A $300 million prize should be awarded for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. That battery should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs.
• Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs), American automakers have committed to make 50 percent of their cars FFVs by 2012. John McCain calls on automakers to make a more rapid and complete switch to FFVs. Brazil increased its new cars sales from 5 percent FFVs to over 70 percent of new vehicles.
• Recognize the  potential in the second generation of alcohol-based fuels like cellulosic ethanol, which is said not to compete with food crops,
• Level the playing field and eliminate mandates, subsidies, tariffs and price supports that focus exclusively on corn-based ethanol and prevent the development of market-based solutions which would provide better options for fuel needs.
• Enforce existing CAFÉ standards -. the mileage requirements that automobile manufacturers' cars must meet. Some carmakers ignore these standards, pay a small financial penalty, and add it to the price of their cars. The penalties must be such that carmakers produce fuel-efficient vehicles.
  

• The U.S. must become a leader in a new international green economy creating green jobs by developing and deploying new green technologies.

• Climate policy should be built on scientifically-sound, mandatory emission reduction targets and timetables.
• Climate policy should utilize a market-based cap and trade system.
• Climate policy must include mechanisms to minimize costs and work effectively with other markets.
• Climate policy must spur the development and deployment of advanced technology.
• Climate policy must facilitate international efforts to solve the problem.

• How does a cap-and-trade system work? A cap-and-trade system harnesses human ingenuity in the pursuit of alternatives to carbon-based fuels. Market participants are allotted total permits equal to the cap on greenhouse gas emissions. If they can invent, improve, or acquire a way to reduce their emissions, they can sell their extra permits for cash. The profit motive will coordinate the efforts of venture capitalists, corporate planners, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists on the common motive of reducing emissions.
• The sectors covered would be electric power, transportation fuels, commercial business, and industrial business - sectors responsible for just under 90 percent of all emissions. Small businesses would be exempt. Initially, participants would be allowed to either make their own GHG reductions or purchase "offsets" - financial instruments representing a reduction, avoidance, or sequestration of greenhouse gas emissions practised by other activities, such as agriculture - to cover 100 percent of their required reductions. Offsets would only be available through a program dedicated to ensure that all offset GHG emission reductions are real, measured and verifiable. The fraction of GHG emission reductions permitted via offsets would decline over time.

• A portion of the funds raised will be used to support a diversified portfolio of research and commercialization challenges, ranging from carbon capture and sequestration, to nuclear power, to battery development. Funds will also be used to provide financial backing for a Green Innovation Financing and Transfer (GIFT) to facilitate commercialization.
• A portion of auction proceeds will go to reduce impacts on low-income American families.

• The inherent structure of the program where trading emission permits allows finding The Lowest-Cost Source Of Emission Reductions.
• Permitting "banking" and "borrowing" of permits so that emission reductions may be accelerated or deferred to more economically efficient periods.
• Permitting unlimited initial offsets from both domestic and international sources.
• Effectively integrating US trading with other international markets, thereby providing access to low-cost permit sources.
• Establishing a strategic carbon reserve as a national source of permits during periods of economic duress.
• Early allocation of some emission permits not auctioned..
• Climate Change Credit Corporation, the public-private agency will oversee the cap and trade program, provide credit to entities for reductions made before 2012, and ease transition for industry with competitiveness concerns and fewer efficiency technology options.
• A commission will be convened to provide recommendations on the percentage of allowances to be provided for free and the percentage of allowances to be auctioned, and develop a schedule for transition from allocated to maximum auctioned allowances. The cap-and-trade system will also work to maximize the amount of allowances that are auctioned off by 2050.

• Greening the federal government. The government occupies 3.3 billion square feet of space worldwide and should lead by example by applying a higher efficiency standard to new buildings leased or purchased or retrofitting existing buildings. While taxpayers would save due to energy cost savings, the purchasing would also develop the green construction market.
• Electricity grid and metering improvements to save energy. Reduce red tape to encourage investment to upgrade the national grid including recharging the electric cars of the future. Deploy SmartMeter technologies which provide customers information about energy use to encourage a more cost-efficient use of power.

• Actively engaging to lead United Nations negotiations.
• Government incentives and partnerships for sales of US clean tech to developing countries.
• Incentives for rapid participation by India and China, while negotiating an agreement with each.
  

• Adaptation should be based upon national and regional scientific assessments of the impacts of climate change.
• Adaptation should focus on implementation at the local level which is where impacts will manifest themselves.
• A comprehensive plan will address the full range of issues: infrastructure, ecosystems, resource planning, and emergency preparation.

• National goal on energy efficiency: Energy efficiency is the cheapest, cleanest and fastest energy source. Goals include reducing electricity demand 15 percent  from the Department of Energy's projected levels by 2020. This will save consumers $130 billion, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 5 billion tons through 2030 and create jobs. Utilities will be required to meet annual demand reduction targets.
• Weatherize one million homes annually. Upgrading home furnaces, sealing leaky ducts, fixing windows and adding insulation can save low income families 20-40% of their energy bills with even greater savings for energy efficient air conditioning, lighting and appliances. About 5,5 million low-income homes have been weatherized since 1976 but more than 28 million are eligible under the existing program.
• Within 10 years save more oil than the US currently imports from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon on the road by 2015, cars that are to be built in America. Specific focus will be R&D on advanced battery technology. Within a year of taking office, the White House fleet will be converted to plug-ins as security permits. By 2012, half of all cars purchased by the federal government will be plug-in hybrids or all electric. Domestic automakers and parts suppliers will receive $4 billion in retooling tax credits and loan guarantees to produce the new fuel-efficient cars.
• Require all new vehicles to be flexible fuel vehicles by the end of the first term in office.
• Develop the next generation of sustainable biofuels and infrastructure including cellulosic ethanol, biobutenol and other synthetic petroleum produced from sustainable feedstocks. The goal is 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2030.
• Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard which requires fuel suppliers beginning in 2010 to reduce the carbon of their fuel by 5% within 5 years and 10 percent within 10 years. A sustainability provision will ensure that biofuels expansion is not at the expense of environmental conservation.
• Ensure 10 percent of electricity comes from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. This provides a national requirement already achieved in various states. A federal Production Tax Credit for five years encourages the trend towards renewable energy.
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. All pollution credits will be by auction to ensure industry pays for every ton of emission. A portion of the receipts ($15 billion per year) will be used for development of clean energy, investment in energy efficiency improvements and develop the next generation of biofuels and clean energy vehicles. Some will be used for new funding for state restoration of habitat, wildlife migration corridors and helping fish and wildlife adapt to climate change. All other receipts will be used for rebates and transition relief for families and communities impacted by a low carbon economy.
• Crack down on excessive energy speculation. Close loopholes in Commodity Futures Trading regulations to increase transparency and prevent traders lining their pockets.
• Increase fuel economy standards. Oil still provides 96% of the energy for vehicles in the US.  Increase fuel efficiency standards by 4% each year while protecting the financial future of domestic automakers.
• Release light crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and replace it with heavy crude for the longer term. Increasing the supply will reduce the prices.
• Create a new $7,000 tax credit for purchasing advanced vehicles.
• A “Use it or Lose It” approach to existing oil and gas leases. Companies have access to 68 million land acres and 40 million offshore acres. If they don't drill their leases must be turned over to those who will.
• Remove barriers for drilling in known areas of large recoverable oil and unconventional natural gas in such areas as the Bakken Shale in Montana and North Dakota. Get more from existing oil fields through Enhanced Oil Recovery using carbon dioxide; an incentive will be given to those emitters sending their CO2 to oil fields for EOR. Map all stationary CO2 sources and develop a database so industry has the information for the most cost-effective oil field for their CO2.
• Build more sustainable and liveable communities; repairing roads and bridges, promote land use decisions and development patterns which make it easier to walk, bike or use transit including incentives by employers to encourage employees to use public transit.
• Develop and deploy clean coal technology. The Department of Energy is to enter into private-public partnerships on five first-of-a-kind commercial scale coal-fired plants with carbon capture and sequestration.
• Before nuclear power is expanded, key issues must be addressed such as security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage and proliferation. Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site and future efforts will look for safe, long-term disposal. Waste stored at current reactor sites must be stored using the most advanced dry-cask technology available.
• Prioritize the construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.
• Set national building efficiency goals. All new buildings to be carbon neutral or produce zero emissions by 2030. New building efficiency is to improve by 50% and existing building efficiency by 25% by 2030.
• Update backlogged appliance efficiency standards.
• Reduce federal energy consumption. The federal government is the world's largest single user of energy spending $14.5 billion on energy in FY 2008. Increase by 40% the efficiency in all new federal buildings within five years and ensure all new federal buildings are zero-emission by 2025. Invest in cost-effective retrofits to achieve a 25 percent increase in efficiency of existing federal buildings within five years. Reduce federal energy consumption by 15% by 2015.
• Flip incentives for utilities so they profit from reliability and performance rather than increased energy usage.
• Invest in a smart grid including advanced technologies for managing peak load, smart metering, demand response, distributed generation and electricity storage systems as well as demonstration projects on power grid sensing, communications, analysis and power flow control including integrating demand-side resources into grid management.

• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyse private efforts to build a clean energy future including commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, encourage energy efficiency, invest in low emissions coal plants, advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. Also investment in training of manufacturing workforce to develop skills and tools for green manufacturing.
• Green Vet Initiative: Provide funding to support green jobs for veterans for counselling, job placement and working with industry partners to provide education and career path development. There are 837,000 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Convert manufacturing into clean technology leaders with a $1 billion per year investment, helping manufacturing centres to modernize and help Americans gain the skills to produce green production. Funding will be made available to the states to provide critical up-front capital for small and mid-size manufacturers. The goal is to spur sustainable economic growth in communities across the country.
• Increase funding for federal workforce training programs for green technologies training such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training with the aim to create stable, high paying jobs. Also a youth program for disadvantaged and disconnected youth to provide skills and experience in improving energy efficiency in homes and buildings while improving their opportunities for moving up the career ladder.

• Oil company windfall profit to be used to provide direct relief ($500 for individuals and $1000 for families) within five years of the profit gain to help with rising costs of fuels, food and other living expenses. Consideration for a second-generation funding for weatherization and home heating assistance.

• All major emitting nations need to join in the solution as part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change but America can lead as long as developing nations such as China and Brazil are not far behind.
• Create a new forum of largest greenhouse gas emitters, a Global Energy Forum – based on the G8+5, which includes all G-8 members plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa – comprised of the largest energy consuming nations from both the developed and developing world, which would focus exclusively on global energy and environmental issues. This Global Energy Forum will complement – and ultimately merge with – the much larger negotiation process underway at the UN to develop a post-Kyoto framework.
• Transfer American technology to the developing world to fight climate change: Create a Technology Transfer Program within the Department of Energy dedicated to exporting climate-friendly technologies, including green buildings, clean coal and advanced automobiles, to developing countries to help them combat climate change.
• Confront deforestation and promote carbon sequestration: A comprehensive strategy to combat global warming must address tropical deforestation which accounts for approximately 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing rates of tropical deforestation will not only slow greenhouse gas emissions but will also protect the livelihoods of local people and the abundance of biodiversity inextricably linked to those forests. By offering incentives to maintain forests and manage them sustainably, the United States can play a leadership role in dealing with climate change.
• Develop domestic incentives that reward forest owners, farmers, and ranchers when they plant trees, restore grasslands, or undertake farming practices that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

• Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund will partner with existing funds and the National Laboratories to move technologies from the lab to commercialization in the U.S.
• Clean air: Restore the force of the Clean Air Act, listen to scientific advisors and improve national clean air standards.
• Reduce health risks from mercury pollution. More than 5 million women in the US of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood and 630,000 children are born every year at risk.
• Clean water. Full funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, strengthen drinking water standards, protect the Great Lakes, develop policies to help high-growth areas deal with managing water supplies and restore federal funding for water and wastewater treatment infrastructure.
• Regulate Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations CAFOs with tougher fines for violations and more control by local communities.
• Restore wetlands including Wetland Reserve Program in the Farm Bill, restoration of Gulf Coast wetlands, marshes and barrier island, and close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet which funnelled floodwater into New Orleans,
• Great Lakes: push for the Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act and the Great Lake Environmental Restoration Act which funds wetland restoration, coastal wildlife and fisheries habitat improvement. Obama opposed the Indiana approval to allow more polluting emissions from a BP refinery.
• Water in the West: Federal policies to help western communities save water including voluntary water banks, wastewater treatment and other market-based conservation measures. Nevada's cash for grass program is mentioned - people are paid to replace lawns with desert landscaping.
• Healthier communities: reduce environmental toxins through clean-up of brownfields, restoration of riverfront industrial lands, tools for communities for healthier food and livable walkable neighbourhoods.
• Reduce lead poisoning: About 400,000 children are suffering from lead poisoning in the US.
• Protect the public from nuclear material through requirements for reporting of accidental or unintentional leaks of radioactive substance.
• Control Superfund Sites and Data: Require polluters to pay for the cleanup of the contaminated sites they created.
• Strengthen funding programs for environmental justice so low income communities have the resources to address local environmental problems and challenge laws and policies which adversely affect the health of low-income and minority communities.

• Encourage organic and sustainable agriculture. Increase the funding for the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program to help farmers afford the costs of compliance with national organic certification standards. Reform the US Department of Agriculture crop insurance program so they do not penalize organic farmers.
• Support local family farmers with local foods and promote regional food system policies. Implement USDA policies that promote local and regional food systems and encourage Americans to Buy Fresh and Buy Local.
• Encourage Farmers to use more wind and solar and help their bottom line and the environment. Will support new irrigation practices to save energy and water and use of methane digesters to produce power from animal waste and practices such as no-till to save energy and improve the health of soil.

• Protect National Parks and Forests: Do not drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Implement Roadless Area Conservation Rule to keep 58 million acres of national forests pristine. Prohibit the importation of illegally harvested wood products to ensure foreign companies do not deforest other areas of the world. Forests sequester carbon.
• Conserve new land: Increase funding for Land and Water Conservation Fund which supports land acquisition and maintenance of parks. Acquire new land with a focus on ecosystems such as the Great Plains and Eastern forests which lack an adequate level of protection.
• Partner with landowners to conserve private land: Increase funding for the Conservation Security Program and Conservation Reserve Program and will provide incentives for private landowners to protect and restore wetlands, grasslands, forests and other wildlife habitat.

• Cap-and-trade program for greenhouse-gas emissions
• Offshore drilling
• Fuel-economy standards for automobiles
• Renewable energy
• Biofuels
• Coal
• Nuclear energy

• Oppose efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through existing environmental statutes including but not limited to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
• Ask Congress to delay action on climate change until careful review.
• Oppose any climate change legislation unless it deals with five criteria: 1. address international aspects, 2. promote accelerated technology development and deployment, 3. preserve jobs and economy, 4. reduce barriers to climate-friendly energy and 5. promote energy efficiency measures.
• Ensure that developing nations share responsibility for climate change initiatives.

• Advocate for commonsense legislation and regulations where appropriate as well as federal research into the environmental, health and safety implications of nanotechnology.
• Work to ensure that federal regulatory agencies, particularly EPA implement a sensible regulatory structure that does not handicap US leadership in the rapidly growing commercial area of nanotechnology.