Urge President Bush to Join the International Effort to Fight Global Warming!

December 9, 2006

Physicians for Social Responsibility

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U.S. Still Refuses to Accept Mandatory Emission Reductions as UN Climate Talks Come to an End

Despite pleas from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and a great number of environment ministers from nations around the world, the U.S. continued to reject the mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol as this year’s UN climate talks came to an end in Nairobi, Kenya on November 17th. Arguing that it would hurt the U.S. economy and that developing countries are unfairly exempt from any emission reduction requirements, President Bush has refused to ratify the agreement throughout his six years in office.

Kyoto Status

Green - signed and ratifiedYellow - signed, ratification pendingRed - signed, ratification declinedGrey - no position

Source: Wikipedia

Under the Kyoto Protocol, 35 industrialized nations must cut their GHG emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. This year’s UN Climate Conference, the second meeting of the 166 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, focused on setting new emissions targets and extending the Kyoto agreement, which is currently set to expire six years from now.

After an intense two weeks of negotiations, ministers at the climate talks were able to agree to review the workings of the Kyoto Protocol by 2008, a step that is needed to ensure that the world will not be left without emissions caps when the current agreement expires in 2012. A gap in the regulatory framework following 2012 could result in the collapse of the carbon trading market, which would create a tremendous setback to international efforts to curb global warming.

While participants were able to agree on a review of the Protocol’s regulatory structure and mechanisms, they were unable to agree on the more crucial task of establishing post-2012 emissions reduction targets. However, even if they had, new emissions targets would have only a limited impact on curtailing global GHG emissions unless the U.S. is brought into the agreement. As the world’s largest economy, the U.S. produces nearly 25 percent of global GHG emissions, yet accounts for less than 5 percent of the world’s population. Furthermore, without U.S. cooperation, there is little hope that developing countries such as China and India will agree to any emissions cuts. As the economies of these two nations continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, so too does their demand for energy the majority of which is being met by carbon-intensive coal-fired power. According to a recent report from the International Energy Agency, China is set to surpass the U.S. in carbon dioxide emissions by 2009.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that global warming is already occurring, that it is accelerating, and that it poses tremendous risks to both human and environmental health worldwide, the Bush administration remains steadfast in its opposition to mandatory cuts in global warming emissions. Even the economics now support immediate action on global warming. A recent report by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern shows that the benefits of strong, early action on climate change far outweigh the costs that society will bear if emissions continue at their current pace. The Stern Report estimates that the impacts of climate change could cost $9.68 trillion and shrink the global economy by as much as 20 percent per year by mid-century if a concerted effort to reduce greenhouse gases is not taken within the next ten years. In comparison, stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at 500 to 550 parts per million (ppm) would cost only one percent of global domestic product (GDP) per year.

Unfortunately, the most recent UN figures show that greenhouse gas emissions from industrialized nations in 2004 were at their highest levels since the early 1990s. In the United States, emissions rose by 15.8 percent between 1990 and 2004. And while emissions are rising, Andrew Revkin of the New York Times reports that federal spending on research and development of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies has fallen by more than 50 percent in the last 25 years, from $7.7 billion (adjusted for inflation) in 1979 to just $3 billion per year today.

The science, and now the economics, is tremendously clear that a continued failure to take immediate and decisive action on global warming could cause irreparable harm to the global environment and the global economy. The United States (currently the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases) must sign the Kyoto Protocol and encourage the fast growing economies of countries like China to do the same. By restoring U.S. leadership in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy, President Bush would not only help avert one of the greatest threats humanity may ever face, but would also reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and create thousands of new jobs in the fast-growing alternative energy industry. But until the United States cooperates, there is little hope that we will be able to avoid the most devastating impacts of a warming world.

Several lawmakers that are set to assume chairmanship of key committees in the House and Senate when the new Congress convenes in January have already signaled their intent to push for a national cap on global warming emissions and they are asking President Bush to work with them. If their efforts are successful, the next round of UN climate talks in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007 could see the U.S. playing a leadership role in moving the world forward in the effort to cut global warming emissions.

Urge Bush to work with the new Congress to fight global warming and to put the U.S. and the world on the path to a safe and healthy energy future!

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