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GAO-23-105863 1 (2023-06-08)

handle is hein.gao/gaoovx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 June 8, 2023 The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito Ranking Member Committee on Environment and Public Works United States Senate The Honorable Tom Cotton United States Senate The Honorable Joni Ernst United States Senate Climate Change: State Department Did Not Track Greenhouse Gas Emissions from U.S. Delegation Travel to Meetings 26 and 27 of the United Nations Conference of the Parties Each year, the federal government and other countries report spending billions of dollars on efforts to help limit the magnitude of climate change. Many of these activities focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.1 The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties convenes an annual multilateral forum to discuss climate change matters.2 The United Kingdom (U.K.) hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, between October 31 and November 12, 2021, to discuss ways to address climate change and to agree on global and national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. President Biden, seven Departmental Secretaries, two agency administrators, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and other administration officials attended COP26 in person. Egypt hosted the 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, from November 6 through 20, 2022. Four Departmental Secretaries, five agency administrators, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, and other administration officials attended COP27. The U.S. delegation to these meetings was led by the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, a position created within the U.S. State Department to coordinate U.S. international climate 1Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation, thereby trapping heat in the atmosphere and making the planet warmer. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (C02), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), and several other fluorine-containing halogenated substances. Greenhouse gas emissions are typically presented in terms of metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to reflect the different warming potential of these gases. See U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Inventory of U. S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2020 (Washington, D.C.: April 15, 2022). 2For more information about meetings of the UN Conference of the Parties, see https://unfccc.int/process/bodies/supreme-bodies/conference-of-the-parties-cop. According to officials at the U.S. State Department, these meetings and processes contain numerous issue-specific terms, acronyms, and general jargon. As such, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change maintains a glossary of terms: https:/unfccc. i nt/process-and-meetings/the-convention/g lossary-of-climate-change-acronyms-and-terms. GAO-23-105863 U.S. Delegation Travel to COP 26 and 27 Page 1

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