Joe Romm over at Climate Progress has a good post about the framework for a bipartison climate and clean energy bill that was discussed today by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). They’re aiming to bring it to the Senate floor early next year and pass it into law during the current session of Congress. The bill commits to a 17 per cent reduction of CO2-equivalent emissions compared to a baseline year of 2005 by 2020. That’s about 3.4 per cent below 1990 levels, which is slightly better than the Canadian government’s weak commitment of around 3 per cent and far below the European Union’s 20 per cent reduction target (which some, such as U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, say should be raised to 30 per cent). The chatter out there is that this U.S. bill, as watered down as it is, is still the best President Obama can hope for. At least it will get the ball moving on a continental cap-and-trade system. Like Canada, there’s lots of support in the U.S. bill for nuclear and “clean coal,” which is a shame considering it means resources that could be directed at energy efficiency and renewables will be absorbed by the established players. Of interest is the following statement: “We will make it easier to finance the construction of new nuclear power plants and improve the efficiency of the licensing process for traditional as well as small modular reactors.” This to me (and I may be wrong) is the first time I’ve seen a clear recognition of a boost to small modular reactors, which I wrote about recently. I think this is good, because the private sector can more easily finance smaller reactors on their own, meaning less vacuuming away of public funds from green energy.

It’s good to see some movement on a U.S. climate bill, but it’s still far, far short of what’s really needed. One can only hope that as the big U.S. ship moves to meet even these weak targets, perhaps the momentum will be so great that businesses, industry and consumers find it all the more easier to embrace clean energy and move beyond the targets. Wishful thinking, I know, but you’ll never turn the ship if you don’t turn the steering wheel.