Americas Quarterly

is the Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania.

He co-founded Cap Solution, a campaign to cap carbon emissions to produce manufacturing jobs.

Set up a cap-and-trade system. In the U. S., that means passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act, a bill that will help stop climate change—and create jobs.

Braddock, Pennsylvania, a once-thriving town of 20,000 that now has a population of 2,800, is in a part of the state that has lost a quarter of a million steel industry jobs over the last several decades. People who are unemployed and worried about keeping a roof over their heads have little energy to devote to protecting the planet.

FETTERMAN ANS WERS:

EDUARDO
BARTOLOMÉ
is the executive director
for Logistics, Project
Management and Sus-
tainability for Vale dos
Rios, Inc. in Brazil.

BARTOLOMÉ ANSWERS:

Being good global citizens will create good jobs. A carbon cap will guarantee a reduction in the amount of CO2 in our air, which will help stop climate change. But it will also require new infrastructure, such as wind turbines that are built with 250 tons of steel.

We can create solid, blue-collar jobs. Under a cap-and-trade system, different regions will develop their own most cost-effective solutions for reducing carbon pollution. Some areas will need wind turbines, while others will need people to manufacture solar panels or assemble ultra-energy-efficient windows or grow crops for biofuels.

Regions that reduce their carbon footprint will have the opportunity to make a profit. To paraphrase an old saying, opportunity is the mother of invention. Unleashing the power of human creativity is our best hope of helping our environment and our economy.

Currently the biggest threats to the environment are the ffects caused by climate change. The challenge we face is to reduce these effects and guarantee a sustainable ecosystem for future generations. In recent years this issue has become of primary importance to governments around the world and has already affected our daily habits and activities.

We believe that governments, companies and ordinary citizens can all contribute to help the world adopt a new model of development, one that is based on a low-carbon economy.

The next United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Copenhagen this December. Representatives from approximately 200 countries will negotiate new agreements and incentives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as address the development and funding of technology to reduce global emissions. We sincerely hope that these governments are able to transform this event into a great turning point for the world, through establishing global targets for reducing GHG emissions, simplifying and speeding up the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism and promoting policies to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, while respecting the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.