The candidates seem to have a ‘plan’ for everything. What might their climate change action plan include? Check out our seven benchmarks for a Presidential Leadership Agenda on climate change:

1. Legislation for economy-wide emissions reductions.
2. Aggressive R&D for low-carbon technology.
3. Federal planning for climate change impacts and response.
4. Picking the right team to carry the initiative.
5. Cooperation with international partners.
6. Reallocation of budget priorities.
7. Enable/encourage citizens to take conservation into their own hands.

Senator Barack Obama

How do Obama's climate change quotes relate to our seven benchmarks?

Read the Obama campaign's response to our Seven Benchmarks

1. Legislation for economy-wide emissions reductions:
“As president I will set a hard cap on all carbon emissions at a level that scientists say is necessary to curb global warming: 80% by 2050. In addition, all polluters will have to pay based on the amount of pollution they release into the sky. The market will set the price, but unlike the other cap-and-trade proposals that have been offered up in this race so far, no business will be able to emit any greenhouse gasses for free.” Watch the video

“I will also commit to interim targets toward this goal in 2020, 2030, and 2040. These reductions will start immediately, and we'll continue to follow the recommendations of top scientists to ensure that our targets are strong enough to meet the challenge we face.” Read the transcript

45mpg Fuel Efficiency - “If we increased fuel efficiency standards on cars to 45mpg, we would replace the equivalent of all the oil we import from the Persian Gulf.”Listen to the audio

“What I have also proposed, and I proposed it here in New Hampshire was a national low carbon fuel standard…we set a 10% requirement for clean burning fuel.”Watch the video

2. Aggressive R&D for low-carbon energy technology:
“Once we have made dirty energy expensive, the second step of my plan is to invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade (much of which will be generated from the cap and trade system I just mentioned) in clean affordable energy and that starts with the next generation of biofuels.” Watch the video

"I have said to the auto makers, even though they are not really happy about this, I said…we will help you to retool and reinvest, but you cant stand in the way of progress." Watch the video

“You can auction off the emissions that are allowed and generate billions of dollars that can be invested into the Manhattan Project for finding new energy sources.”Listen to the audio

It’s not enough just to incrementally - here we will fund a million dollars here for solar - we will fund two million dollars here for biomass. That’s not enough. We need to fundamentally reconceive how we use energy in this country.”Watch the video

3. Federal planning for climate change impacts and response:
“My energy plan calls for all new federal buildings to be zero-emissions by 2025 and 40 percent more efficient within the next five years. I will also place retrofitting existing federal buildings at a top priority, and seek to improve their efficiency by 25 percent within 5 years.” Read the transcript

"We need to invest in mass transit to try to discourage people from driving their cars all the time." Listen to the audio

4. Picking the right team to carry the initiative:
“I will ensure that my Cabinet and all of my appointees honor the primacy of sound science in regulatory and policy decision-making, and adherence to sound science of course means a recognition that the climate change threat is real and exacerbated by human activity. I will keep political ideology out of scientific decisions in the Executive Branch. I will also only appoint officials that are qualified to do their jobs, and aren’t going to represent big industry rather than the American people while serving in my administration. As part of my bold plan to make the federal government lead on efficiency and renewable energy measures, I will also ensure that each agency is equipped to meet these targets with the proper personnel and resources.” Read the transcript

5. Cooperation with international partners:
So, we as the wealthiest country on earth also produce the most greenhouse gasses. If we don't start, nobody else, China and India certainly are not going to do it."Listen to the audio

“I will personally reach out to the leaders of the biggest carbon emitting nations in both the developed and developing world and ask them to join America in creating a new Global Energy Forum that will lay the foundation for the next generation of climate protocols.” Read the transcript

6. Reallocation of budget priorities:
“I do intend to scrutinize some of the subsidies to big oil and big gas. I have already introduced amendments to try to strip out some of these subsidies that are not necessary. Obviously oil is making money hand over fist and the last thing that they need is tax breaks from the United States government. Part of what we would do with some of that money is to reinvest it into tax breaks for clean energy like wind and solar." Listen to the audio (20 mins into the program)

7. Enable/encourage citizens to take efficiency and conservation into their own hands:
"There are a number of issues where…there are going to be some sacrifices involved. I will give you one specific example, and that’s on energy."

“The third step in my plan to combat climate change is to call on businesses, government, and the American people to make America 50% more energy efficient by 2030. This is by far the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to curb our emissions and save money at the same time….The federal government will lead by making all of its buildings carbon neutral by 2025. And I will set a national goal of making all new buildings in America carbon neutral by 2030.” Read the transcript

“I will immediately sign a law that begins to phase out all incandescent light bulbs - a measure that will save American consumers $6 billion a year on their electric bills.” Read the transcript

Other Global Warming Quotes from New Hampshire

• Renewable Energy
  

  "We can generate an entire new economy based on green technology that can help to provide jobs and opportunity in rural New Hampshire and all across the country." Listen to the audio
  

  - August 19, Dover
  
  "But the truth is, corn ethanol is neither the perfect nor the permanent answer to our energy challenge. There are legitimate economic and ecological concerns about an over-reliance on corn-based ethanol. And even if we double or triple its production, it won't replace even a tenth of our demand for gasoline. That's why we must invest in the next generation of advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol that can be made from things like switchgrass and woodchips." Read the transcript
  
  - Oct. 8, Portsmouth
  
  "The struggling paper mills in New Hampshire would be back in business if they could use wood to produce biofuels. We should set a goal to produce the first two billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2013. And we should make sure that more local farms and local refineries have the chance to be a part of this new industry." Read the transcript
  
  - Oct. 8, Portsmouth
  
  "Once you have created a market (for carbon trading) investors and entrepreneurs are going to go in and they are going to poor money into creating new energy, new strategies for dealing with carbon sequestration. We can create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and new businesses. We can create an engine for economic growth. So, this (climate change) is not just a challenge, it's an opportunity." Listen to the audio
  
  - July 20, Hampton
  
  "I will launch a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund that will provide $10 billion a year for five years to get the most promising clean energy technologies off the ground. This venture capital fund will get new technologies from the lab to the marketplace so that in the next few years, the American economy can benefit from America's innovations." Read the transcript
  
  - Oct. 8, Portsmouth

• Non-renewable Energy
  

  "There is no silver bullet to meeting our energy needs…but we know that we can’t drill our way out of this problem."
  

  - May 27, Conway
  
  "And we must find a way to stop coal from polluting our atmosphere without pretending that our nation's most abundant energy source will just go away … That's why we must invest in clean coal technologies that we can use at home and share with the world. Until those technologies are available, I will rely on the carbon cap and whatever tools are necessary to stop new dirty coal plants from being built in America - including a ban on new traditional coal facilities." Read the transcript
  
  - Oct. 8, Portsmouth

• Cap and Trade/ Carbon Tax
  

  "You can auction off the emissions that are allowed and generate billions of dollars that can be invested into the Manhattan Project for finding new energy sources." Listen to the audio
  

  - April 3, Rochester
  
  "I am a co-sponsor of the toughest climate change bill in the senate right now…The central idea is to set up a cap and trade system, which is how we dealt with acid rain by the way, which we say to the companies, you know what, you cant pollute above a certain level and its going to go down each year."Listen to the audio
  
  - July 20, Hampton
  
  "If for example we set up a cap and trade system that is aggressive, that says you know you are going to stop burning dirty fuel that releases carbons into the atmosphere. Than that’s going to require power plants to retrofit. And they are going to pass on some of those charges on your electricity bill, and that means we’re going to have to help lower income or people on fixed incomes pay for the higher electricity bills and that’s going to have a cost to it." >
  
  - August 20, Derry

• Nuclear
  

  "We should accelerate research into technologies that will allow for the safe, secure treatment of nuclear waste.” Read the transcript
  

  - Oct. 8, Portsmouth

• Fuel efficiency
  

  "We are going to increase fuel efficiency standards 4% per year over the next few years til we get to 40 miles per gallon." Listen to the audio
  

  - April 3, Rochester
  
  "I want us to have at least a 45mpg CAFE standard and that is well within existing technologies. I have said to the auto makers, even though they are not really happy about this, I said…we will help you to retool and reinvest, but you cant stand in the way of progress. We need hybrids, plug in hybrids, flexible fuel vehicles." Watch the video
  
  - July 20, Manchester
  
  

• Foreign Policy
  

  "A one degree change in temperature reduces rice yields around the world by ten percent. Think about, for countries like a Bangladesh for example...what a ten percent reduction in rice yields means? We could have 250 million people around the world displaced, which will create more conflict, create more wars, will create more drought, more famine, more refugees, more disease" Listen to the audio
  

  - July 20, Hampton

Nothing in Promises, Commitments & Priorities: Seeking a Presidential Leadership Agenda is meant to imply an endorsement of any candidate or political party.