Al Gore: Climate Bill Failure Costing U.S. Billions

Former Vice President Al Gore claims in a recent blog post that the failure of the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to curb greenhouse gases (like the American Power Act) is already costing the country billions of dollars.

In his post, Gore cites a recent Reuters article detailing how investments in clean, renewable energy have dwindled in the few weeks since the Senate gave up on their version of a climate bill.

Deutsche Bank officials, who dole out between six and seven billion dollars a year to countries to help their renewable energy sector, have confirmed that because of the U.S.’s inaction, they will be sending their money to countries such as China and Western Europe, who are making more progress than the United States.

Kevin Parker, head of the Frankfurt-based bank's Deutsche Asset Management Division, explained the decision saying that the U.S. is “asleep at the wheel on climate change, asleep at the wheel on job growth, asleep at the wheel on this industrial revolution taking place in the energy industry."

Last summer, the U.S. House of Representatives managed to pass a bill that would have reduced carbon emissions by 17% by the year 2020, and President Obama made the same pledge while attending the global warming conference in Copenhagen in December of last year. But, due to the inability of the Senate to come to an agreement on their version of the bill, the legislation has been shelved.

Parker says that on climate change, “The U.S. hasn't even entered the race yet,” and said that of the US$7 billion worth of green investments his firm currently holds, a mere US$45 million came from the United States.