A cover story about global warming in Sports Illustrated about a year ago shows the issue has risen in public awareness, an Environmental Defense Fund economist says.

Nathaniel Keohane attributed climate change's growing notice partly to changing weather patterns and the global-warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," by former Vice President Al Gore and the Nobel Peace Prize he shared with a United Nations panel.

Keohane, a Yaleand Harvard-educated economist, spoke to the Richmond Association of Business Economists yesterday about a market-based approach to curbing greenhouse-gas pollution, called "cap-and-trade."

The consequences of failing to address global warming are drought, more storms, more forest fires, higher sea levels and the spread of pests and diseases, he said. A key in getting the rest of the world to deal with the problem is to get the U.S. to act, he said.

With most of the scientific community accepting the problem, attention is being turned to the costs of fixing it, Keohane said. Cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions makes strong economic sense, he said.

While the U.S. costs of addressing global warming would be small (less than 1 percent of annual gross domestic product), delaying action will drive up the costs, he said. Addressing the problem would be good business for America, a technological leader, Keohane said.

Technology already in the works could cut greenhouse gases in half by 2030, he said. The best way to encourage businesses to cut their emissions is with a cap-and-trade system, he said.

In such a system, the government would set a nationwide limit, or cap, on emissions that would decline over time. Pollution allowances would be created that businesses could buy or sell, putting a price on the pollution they emit.

Keohane's employer has joined with other conservation groups and some of the nation's top businesses in promoting a market-based solution to climate change.

The question, he said, is whether Congress will have the political will to act.

Virginians in Congress are taking the lead on the issue. A climate bill, sponsored by Sens. John W. Warner, R-Va., and Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn., is awaiting action on the Senate floor. In the House, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th, is chairman of the subcommittee that will be writing climate-change legislation.
Contact Greg Edwards at (804) 649-6390 or gedwards@timesdispatch.com.