If greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase at the present rate, global warming will have a profound negative impact on American’s standard of living. America’s Climate Security Act caps most greenhouse gas emissions and requires that these emissions be reduced 19 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 71 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. To accomplish this, the bill establishes a system to track and monitor greenhouse gas emissions and creates procedures for companies to trade emissions “allowances,” so that businesses that reduce their emissions below the cap can sell their extra “allowance” to pollute to other companies, making the regulation flexible and providing an incentive to reduce emissions. However, some scientists find that the emissions cuts in this bill are not deep enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. What’s more, truly holding corporations accountable for their own pollution requires charging polluters for emissions “allowances” rather than granting a certain number of them cost-free.