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GAO-04-144R 1 (2004-01-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptapsr0001 and id is 1 raw text is: A Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 January 30, 2004 The Honorable Ernest F Hollings Ranking Minority Member Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation United States Senate The Honorable John F Kerry Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on Oceans, Fisheries and Coast Guard Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation United States Senate Subject: Climate Change: Analysis of Two Studies of Estimated Costs of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol In 1992 the United States ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was intended to stabilize the buildup of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere but did not impose binding limits on emissions. In July 1997, when preliminary negotiations on a new climate agreement were under way, the Senate passed a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the Clinton administration should not agree to limits on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions if such an agreement did not include economically developing nations or if it could seriously harm the U.S. economy. In December 1997 the United States participated in drafting the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to specifically limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Protocol did not impose limits on developing nations' emissions, and its possible effect on the U.S. economy was the subject of numerous studies during that period, including the two studies that are the subject of this report. Although the U.S. government signed the Protocol in 1998, the Clinton administration did not submit it to the Senate for advice and consent, which are necessary for ratification. In March 2001, President Bush announced that he opposed the Protocol. A participating nation's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol will be determined by first calculating its average emissions of the six covered gases-carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and three synthetic gases'-for the 5-year period 2008 through 2012. Reductions can then be made for, among other things, the purchase of emissions reductions from certain other nations; this feature, called emissions trading, allows a nation that has reduced its emissions more than the required amount to sell its unused emissions reductions to other nations. In addition, developing 1Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. GAO-04-144R Estimated Costs of the Kyoto Protocol

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