The Kyoto Protocol: An Update Oral Statement

The Kyoto Protocol: An Update Oral Statement

Dr. Harlan L. Watson, Senior Climate Negotiator and Special Representative Testimony Before House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment Washington, DC July 11, 2007

Prepared statement

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

With your permission, I have
a longer statement to submit for the record and will focus my oral remarks on the international components of the Administration's approach to climate change.

President Bush has reaffirmed America's commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on numerous occasions. He has also made clear he would not commit the U.S. to the Kyoto Protocol, which would have imposed major costs on our economy and is ineffective in addressing climate change because it excludes developing countries.

Given the issue's complexity and its interlinkages with virtually all aspects of human activity, there is a broad international consensus that climate change cannot be dealt with in a vacuum. Rather, it needs to be addressed as part of an integrated agenda that promotes economic growth, reduces poverty, provides access to modern sanitation and clean water, enhances agricultural productivity, provides energy security, reduces pollution, and mitigates greenhouse gas emissions.

Meeting these multiple objectives requires a sustained, long-term commitment by all nations. To this end, the President has established a robust and flexible climate change policy that harnesses the power of markets and technological innovation, maintains economic growth, and encourages global participation.

The President has requested, and Congress has provided, substantial funding for climate change science and observations, technology, international assistance, and incentive programs—approximately $37 billion since 2001, more than any other nation. The President's fiscal year 2008 budget requests nearly $7.4 billion for climate-related activities.

The Administration also believes well-designed multilateral collaborations focused on achieving practical results can accelerate development and commercialization of new clean energy technologies and advance climate change science.

Under President Bush's leadership, the U.S. has brought together nations to tackle jointly some tough clean energy technology and science challenges. As shown in Attachment 1 of my written testimony, 79 nations and the European Union are participating in these multilateral collaborations—including the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP), Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF), Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Generation IV International Forum (GIF), Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), International Partnership for a Hydrogen Economy (IPHE), Methane to Markets Partnership (M2M)—and in our 15 bilateral and regional partnerships.

Recently, on May 31, 2007, the President announced that "[t]he United States will work with other nations to establish a new framework on greenhouse gas emissions for when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012". Under his proposal: (1) America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2008; (2) the U.S. will convene a series of meetings with nations that produce the most emissions; (3) each country would establish midterm national targets, and programs that reflect their own mix of energy sources and future energy needs; and (4) creation of a strong and transparent system for measuring each country's performance in order to ensure results.

He also proposed that nations bring together industry leaders from different sectors of our economies, such as power generation and alternative fuels and transportation to form working groups that would cooperate on ways to share clean energy technology and best practices, as well as strengthening climate-related initiatives at the United Nations (UN) that benefit all countries, including adaptation to climate change, deforestation and technology.

G8 Leaders largely endorsed the President's initiative at the June G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, and agreed to a process for concluding by the end of 2008 a comprehensive post-Kyoto framework that includes all the major countries and that could contribute to a global agreement under the UN Framework Convention in 2009.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I hope my testimony this afternoon conveys a sense of the vast extent and breadth to which the United States is working to address global climate change. I would be pleased to answer any of your questions.

ENDS

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