California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a conference in Lisbon Wednesday that he regretted Washington's lack of engagement on global warming but insisted the United States was not ignoring the issue.
"Just because you don't see Washington leading this issue, don't be thinking that America is shirking its responsibilities," he said in a video message transmitted for an international conference on global warming.
The governor, who could not attend the conference because of the fires that have devastated his state, said that California was one of the first US states to work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
On Monday, the states of California, New Jersey and New York joined eight European Union countries - Portugal, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands - and New Zealand, Norway, and the Canadian region of British Columbia to create an International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP). This new forum was created to enable countries to work together against climate change and exchange their experiences on the matter.
"This cooperation agreement will also assure that the programmes in different countries are compatible with setting up a global carbon market," said the European Union presidency, currently Portugal, in a statement. Several carbon markets already exist around the world, as industry pays for the right to pollute.
"We are enthusiastic about this partnership," New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine said. "We'll try to bring our nation, our government on this way." "We're disappointed our federal government is not here...I've no doubt next administration will fully understand" the problem," New York Governor Eliot Spitzer said.
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