U.S. Keeps Quiet On Kyoto

By Amanda Griscom Little, Grist.org. Posted October 7, 2004.

Last Thursday, when the Russian cabinet moved to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, international leaders called it the dawn of a new era.

Top officials from Canada, Japan, the European Union, and other Kyoto-supporting countries applauded Russia's progress toward ratification, which will be final once the nation's parliament gives it the green light (a mere formality at this point). Then it's just 90 days more until the treaty's implementation.

"Russian ratification would ensure that the protocol enters into force and launch an exciting new phase in the global campaign to reduce the risks of climate change," declared Joke Waller-Hunter, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

No such hearty congratulations, though, were heard from George W. Bush, who threw in the towel on Kyoto negotiations in March 2001 despite the fact that the U.S. is proud producer of more than one-third of global greenhouse-gas emissions. In fact, no statements on the matter were released by either the Bush or Kerry campaigns, and only scattered, unenthused coverage could be found in American news outlets.

In one Washington Post article, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Jim Connaughton, veritably jeered at the treaty, trotting out the much-contested notion that regulating greenhouse-gas emissions would hamper economic progress: "The administration strongly opposes any treaty or policy that would cause the loss of a single American job," he said.

The tepid U.S. response to progress on Kyoto might lead Americans to wonder: If the protocol goes into force throughout the vast majority of the industrialized world and the U.S. continues to ignore it, will it have any impact on the United States at all?

Technically and symbolically, the answer is yes – most definitely. The protocol contains legally binding emissions standards requiring 36 industrialized countries to reduce their combined greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 5 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012. Those targets will have widespread ramifications for industrial activities within those countries – even activities conducted by U.S. corporations.

"At least hundreds, maybe thousands of U.S. companies – including the majority of the Fortune 500 – have multinational operations in Kyoto-supporting countries and will have to reshape manufacturing strategies at their overseas plants," said Phil Clapp, president of National Environmental Trust. Moreover, it would make little sense for corporations to undertake this kind of strategic shift in their facilities abroad but not at home, said Clapp. "It's more efficient to make it a corporation-wide effort."

Clapp also argues that because Kyoto is based on a global cap-and-trade program, companies that get in on it early will have an advantage – they can buy cheap emissions credits before the price starts to get bid up. "My guess is that American executives are going to start clamoring to get in the game before too long."

They may not be clamoring yet, but there are signs that major U.S. companies are facing up to reality. Last Saturday, The New York Times reported that Ford executives have been working behind the scenes to develop a company-wide strategy for carbon-dioxide reductions. And on Sunday, The Washington Post reported that Alcoa is starting to make plans to adjust to the restrictions that Kyoto will bring in countries around the world.

According to David Sandalow, an environmental scholar at the Brookings Institution who was an assistant secretary of state during the Clinton administration and helped to design the Kyoto treaty, state and regional initiatives designed to combat global warming are also giving U.S. executives reason to welcome the prospect of federal emissions controls.

Recently, California, New York and other states have been taking matters into their own hands. Late last month, with the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Air Resources Board approved a landmark standard for greenhouse-gas emissions from all new vehicles sold in the state beginning in 2009. Northeastern states, meanwhile, have been working to adopt a regional cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions.

"There's a patchwork of overlapping laws emerging at a grassroots level, and it could become very confusing for American companies to have to adapt to different requirements in each state," said Sandalow. "Corporate leaders may soon be arguing that it's much easier and more efficient for them to operate according to one clear national standard."

Head for the Hill

The ripple effect of Kyoto's implementation won't just hit the Fortune 500 crowd – it's likely to resonate on Capitol Hill, too. Word has it that Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are aiming to revive their Climate Stewardship Act. It's unlikely to happen before the election, but they may try to push the bill through in the lame-duck session during the last two months of the year.

Amanda Griscom writes the Muckraker column for Grist Magazine.

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