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Abstract: Negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were completed December 11, 1997,
committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in
emissions of six ¨greenhouse gases.¨

This treaty would commit the United States to a target of reducing greenhouse
gases by 7% below 1990 levels during a ¨commitment period¨ between 2008-2012.
Because of the fact that ?sinks,? which remove and store carbon from the
atmosphere, are counted and because of other provisions discussed in this report, the
actual reduction of emissions within the United States that would be required to meet
the target was estimated to be lower than 7%.

The United States signed the Protocol on November 12, 1998. However, the
Clinton Administration did not submit the Protocol to the Senate for advice and
consent, acknowledging that one condition outlined by S.Res. 98, passed in mid-1997
? meaningful participation by developing countries in binding commitments
limiting greenhouse gases ? had not been met. In late March 2001, the Bush
Administration rejected the Kyoto Protocol. The United States continues to attend
the annual conferences of the parties (COPs) to the UNFCCC, but does not
participate in Kyoto Protocol-related negotiations. In February, 2002, President Bush
announced a U.S. policy for climate change that will rely on domestic, voluntary
actions to reduce the ?greenhouse gas intensity? (ratio of emissions to economic
output) of the U.S. economy by 18% over the next 10 years.

As of April 15, 2004, the UNFCCC Secretariat reported that 122 nations have
ratified or accepted the Kyoto Protocol, representing 44.2% of the emissions of
developed countries with obligations outlined in the Protocol. In order to enter into
force, the Protocol must be ratified by nations representing 55% of these emissions.
If Russia were to ratify the Protocol, which it has recently stated it plans to do, it
would enter into force. The Protocol's provisions would apply only to those
countries that had ratified it.

 [read report]

Topics: Climate Change, International