Update: June 2, 2006
MOST RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:
On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force, committing those nations that have ratified
it to specified mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels. The 160
nations that had ratified the Protocol as of February 6, 2006, now represent 61.6% of the 1990
emissions baseline among developed nations (55% must be accounted for by industrialized
countries that have ratified in order for the Protocol to enter into force). The United States is
a party to the UNFCCC, but not to the Kyoto Protocol. The first meeting of the Kyoto
Protocol parties occurred November 28-December 9, 2005, in a joint meeting with the 11th
Conference of the Parties (COP-11) of the UNFCCC.
On June 22, 2005, the U.S. Senate passed a “Sense of the Senate” resolution as an
amendment to H.R. 6, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which included findings that greenhouse
gases are accumulating in the atmosphere, causing average temperatures to rise, and there is
“growing scientific consensus that human activity is a substantial cause of greenhouse gas
accumulation in the atmosphere.” It stated the sense of the Senate “that Congress should enact
a comprehensive and effective national program of mandatory, market-based limits and
incentives on emissions of greenhouse gases that slow, stop, and reverse the growth of such
emissions....,” while not significantly harming the U.S. economy, and in a way that will
encourage comparable action by other nations. This resolution was not included in the final
energy bill by the conference committee.
Following suit, on May 10, 2006, the House Committee on Appropriations in the draft
FY2007 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill adopted sense-of-the-Congress language
stating that there should be enacted a comprehensive and effective national program of
mandatory, market-based limits and incentives on emissions of greenhouse gases that slow,
stop, and reverse the growth of such emissions. That language calls for limits and incentives
that do not significantly harm the U.S. economy and that will encourage comparable action by
our major trading partners and key contributors to global emissions. Also adopted was
language directing EPA to study the ways global climate change will affect human health and
to recommend ways the nation should improve medical preparedness and response capabilities
and public health systems to deal with the health impacts associated with increased pollution
and other environmental changes.
Previous releases:
/NLE/CRSreports/06Mar/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/05Jun/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/05apr/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/04Oct/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03Dec/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03Sep/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03Aug/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03Jul/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03May/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03Apr/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/03Jan/IB89005.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/IB89005.pdf
http://www.NCSEonline.org/nle/clim-2.html
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/Climate/clim-2.pdf
http://NCSEonline.org/NLE/CRSreports/Climate/clim-2.cfm
Abstract: There is concern that human activities are
affecting the heat/energy-exchange balance
between Earth, the atmosphere, and space, and
inducing global climate change, often termed
“global warming.” Human activities, particularly
the burning of fossil fuels, have contributed
to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide
(CO2) and other trace greenhouse gases. If
these gases continue to accumulate in the
atmosphere at current rates, most scientists
believe significant global warming would
occur through intensification of Earth’s natural
heat-trapping “greenhouse effect.” Possible
impacts might be seen as both positive and
negative, depending on regional or national
variations.
A warmer climate would probably have
far-reaching effects on agriculture and forestry,
managed and unmanaged ecosystems,
including natural habitats, human health,
water resources, and sea level, depending on
climate responses. Although causal relationships
between projected long-range global
climate trends and record-setting warmth and
severe weather events of the past two decades
have not been firmly established, attention has
been focused on possible extremes of climate
change and the need for better understanding
of climate processes to improve climate model
projections.
The basic policy question remains:
Given scientific uncertainties about the magnitude,
timing, rate, and regional
consequences of potential climatic change,
what are the appropriate responses for U.S.
and world decision makers?
Fossil-fuel combustion is the primary
source of CO2 emissions, and also emits other
“greenhouse” gases. Because the U.S. economy
is so dependent upon energy, and so
much of U.S. energy is derived from fossil
fuels, reducing these emissions poses major
challenges and controversy.
The 1992 United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
which the United States has ratified, called for
a “non-binding” voluntary aim for industrialized
countries to control atmospheric concentrations
of greenhouse gases by stabilizing
their emissions at 1990 levels by the year
2000. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the
UNFCCC goes further, and commits the
major industrialized nations that have ratified
it to specified, legally binding emissions
reductions. On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto
Protocol entered into force. According to the
UNFCCC Secretariat, as of February 6, 2006,
160 nations and economic regional integration
organizations had ratified the Protocol. The
European Union instituted its emissions trading
system under the Protocol at the beginning
of 2005.
In March 2001, the Bush Administration
rejected the Kyoto Protocol, and thus the
United States is not party to it (and therefore
is not subject to its requirements) as it enters
into force. President Bush concluded a
cabinet-level climate policy review with an
announcement in 2002 of a “new approach”
for the United States based on reducing the
greenhouse gas intensity (greenhouse gas
emissions per unit of GDP) of the U.S. economy.
This report briefly reviews the status of
climate science, international negotiations,
and congressional activity focused specifically
on climate change.
[read report]
Topics: Climate Change, General Interest, International