Something historic is happening this afternoon in the US and virtually every single stateside green group is likely to issue a press release on the subject tomorrow… So, we journalists are keenly awaiting a flurry of environmentally-friendly press releases to come clicking out of the fax machine.

It really is a momentous occasion – and even California Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger has made a TV advert about it that has been shown in 11 US states so far. (To see Arnie waxing lyrical while stood in a redwood forest click here - Governors Take The Lead On Climate Change)

This will be the first time EVER a Senate committee has voted on a global warming bill – and it is happening today. Let’s hope the vote goes the right and proper way.

Arnie has come in for a lot of stick for his support. He has been called a traitor to America, a communist and much, much more.

"Climate change: it's a test of leadership," Arnie says in the ad. He is asking ordinary Americans to write to their senators to approve the Lieberman-Warner bill - but not everyone is convinced.

The US chamber of commerce has requested that Americans write to their Congressman and urge them NOT to support the act. The advert (which you can see here - Wake Up To Climate Change) shows an American family living in their home wearing scarves because they cannot afford to heat their home and, heaven forbid, the head of the family in the advert had to make it to work without using a car..! How utterly, utterly outrageous…

The Senate Environment and Public Works committee aims to set up a federal program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power, industry and transportation sectors by 70% by 2050. The bill aims to do this without crimping economic growth or “imposing hardship” on US citizens.

Here’s what they propose

The bill is sponsored by Senators Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, and John Warner, a Virginia Republican.

If enacted, the bill would cap emissions and gradually reduce them using a market-oriented cap-and-trade system in which allowances to emit greenhouse gases would be bought and sold.

The bill would cap greenhouse gases at the 2005 emission level starting in 2012 and gradually reduce them to 1990 levels - a 15% reduction - by 2020.

Senator Warner said: "The basic difference between the administration's approach and our approach is that we feel voluntary will not achieve the goals, the leadership that the United States of America simply must take ... to join the other nations of the world."

George W Bush has resisted capping emissions, indicating that he would like individual companies to make up their own minds on the issue.

Of course, this committee vote could fail – as climate initiatives have failed many times before. However, there are a number of senior Republication co-sponsors, so this gives me hope, including Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Norm Coleman of Minnesota.

So, how would the so-called “cap-and-trade system” work..?

Well, a company that released more greenhouse gases than the legislation permitted would have to buy allowances for this extra pollution. The allowances would be sold in the market from a pool that came from companies that cut their missions below their required cap. Therefore, there is a financial incentive for businesses to reduce emissions.

The US is disproportionately ruining the air we breathe. The country contains 4% of the world's population yet produces around 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions. By comparison, we in Britain emit 3% of the world’s total. This is about the same as India, a country with 15 times as many people as we have here.

This is a first step for the world’s biggest polluter, and it is a very welcome move. So, let’s keep our fingers crossed that Lieberman, Schwarzenegger and Warner get their way later today. It’s a very important bill that I believe just has to be passed, despite the sulking of big business.

For more information see Senator Lieberman’s website. P.S. If you enjoyed this article then sign up for Smart Commodities UK. It’s dedicated to searching out the investment trends that could provide our biggest profit opportunities for the next decade…

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