Summary

Climate change policy has been a key congressional concern recently, focusing especially on the Kyoto Protocol, which the United States and 37 other countries agreed to in principle in December 1997. Under the protocol, the United States agreed to substantially reduce its greenhouse gas emissions during the five-year period beginning in 2008. This testimony discusses activities relating to climate change programs and congressional requests for information on (1) the administration's April 20, 1999, report on federal expenditures for climate change activities and (2) a limitation that was designed to prevent the agency from taking specified regulatory actions to implement the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

GAO noted that: (1) the Energy Information Administration's report, as required by law, provides multiyear spending data and describes climate change programs and activities; (2) however, it was delivered to Congress on April 20, 1999, about two and a half months after the specified due date; (3) also, the report did not always link its discussion of activities and performance goals to the specific line items shown in the President's budget; (4) the report did not always provide a clear picture of intended performance across federal climate change activities, for example, by specifying--in measurable and quantifiable terms--the outcomes expected to be achieved by federal spending; (5) a provision in EPA's appropriations act for FY 1999 prohibited the agency from taking certain regulatory actions--for example, proposing regulations--to implement the Kyoto Protocol on climate change; (6) to assess the scope of the prohibition, GAO reviewed the legislative history of the act; and (7) GAO believes that the act does not limit EPA's ability to undertake activities that are otherwise authorized by law.