SAN FRANCISCO -- Greenpeace said today that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) has shown she is serious about battling global warming by joining with 152 of her House colleagues to sign onto the strongest global warming bill in the House of Representatives, the Safe Climate Act.

The bill contains three key parts: a national cap on global warming pollution that produces reductions from today’s levels within a decade, and reaches at least 80 percent by 2050; a national renewable electricity standard of at least 20 percent by 2020 that includes incentives for solar and other distributed renewable energy installations; and a significant increase in the efficiency of cars by requiring a 30 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions.

Since her election in 2006, Rep. Giffords strongly advocated for increased use of solar energy. Her support bore fruit last year when President Bush signed the energy bill, which included legislation written by Giffords that had a four-point plan for promoting solar power.

"Rep. Giffords has stepped up to the enormous challenge global warming presents for our future," said Ben Smith, global warming national organizer for Greenpeace. "Now it’s time for her opponent in the fall election, State Senate President Tim Bee (R), to match her dedication and commit to doing what’s necessary to slow and reverse the impacts of global warming."

The latest report from the Nobel-Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that if nothing is done to limit heat-trapping emissions like carbon dioxide, global warming it is likely to increase global average temperatures, leading to more droughts, heat waves, floods and stronger hurricanes, rapid melting of ice-sheets and rapidly rising sea levels.

Smith said no matter which party is in power in 2009, the next Congress must act to create five million new jobs with a sweeping national mobilization for climate solutions, energy independence, and investment in a new energy economy; get on a realistic path to the reductions needed to prevent dangerous climate disruption: at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050; and end the development of new coal plants that emit global warming pollution.

"America must pivot boldly away from fossil fuel dependence and toward a clean energy future with strong standards and incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy," Smith said. "Arizona deserves two candidates for office that will go on record saying that they’re ready to take on climate change. We’re starting to know where Rep. Giffords stands. Now it’s time for Tim Bee to stand up and be accountable on global warming"

###