November 20, 2000

U.S. Agrees to Limit Use of Forests in Reducing Greenhouse Gases

By Jim Fuller
Washington File Science Correspondent

The Hague -- U.S. officials began the final week of crucial negotiations on a climate change treaty by announcing that the United States -- in an effort to move the negotiations forward -- would limit the use of forest projects as a means of reaching the target for reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

Frank Loy, under secretary of state for global affairs and head of the U.S. delegation at the climate change talks in The Hague, told reporters November 20 that there is broad recognition among negotiators on the role of forests as "sinks," in which carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels is absorbed from the atmosphere. But Loy also emphasized that "there is less consensus" on how to account for the carbon-absorbing forests in the climate change treaty, known as the Kyoto Protocol.

Carbon dioxide is one of the key greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming.

In order to move our negotiations forward, and to ensure all parties of our full commitment to the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol," Loy said the United States has proposed that all countries should be allowed to count at least 20 million metric tons of annual carbon absorption, known as sequestration, in managed forests. In addition, credit for currently projected sequestration beyond that level would also be reduced by two-thirds.

The U.S. State Department, in a report to the United Nations, calculated that about 310 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is absorbed annually in U.S. managed forests. Under the latest proposal, the United States would get a total credit from forest sequestration of only about 125 million metric tons.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, which has not yet been ratified, the United States has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012. This would amount to at least 600 million metric tons of annual carbon emission reductions beginning in 2008 under the treaty.

Prior to the latest proposal, Loy said the United States position was that most of the 310 million metric tons of carbon sequestration from forests should be counted as credits toward its required emission reductions under the treaty. But that amount would now be reduced by two-thirds.

"We are prepared, because of the expressions of concern by other parties, to take credit for less than the full amount of those (carbon) tons that are sequestered," Loy said. "We believe that we have in this approach -- which involves on our part taking a substantial smaller fraction of the total that is actually sequestered by our forests - (tried) to come closer to an agreement on the way sinks are to be counted in the Kyoto Protocol.

"It is one of the important issues before us today, and it is, I hope, closer to resolution than it was before," Loy added.

According to conference officials, the European Union has up to now opposed giving sizable credits for forests as sinks, in part because European countries have fewer forests than the United States. Many environmentalists at the conference have also opposed heavy reliance on forest carbon sinks, contending that would mean less emphasis on cutting greenhouse gases from industrial plants and other sources.

At his press conference, Loy also emphasized that progress was being made as top-level ministers from around the world arrived to begin the final week of negotiations on the operational details of the Kyoto Protocol.

"As we open the ministerial portion of this conference, I am very pleased by both the tone and the substance of our discussions," he said. "While there remain major differences on many of the key issues before us, there is also a sincere determination to bridge those differences."

The first indication of progress in the negotiations came when the president of the conference, Dutch Environment Minister Jan Pronk, cited a "very constructive attitude in the negotiations" following the first week of talks.

"Delegations are negotiating in a very constructive and positive spirit," Pronk said. "There have been no tactics to block the discussions." Pronk added that some major texts had been finalized during the first week of the conference, and that major pending issues would require political decisions at the ministerial level of the conference that began November 20. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended the opening of the ministerial session.

Ambassador Mark Hambley, U.S. special negotiator on climate change, told reporters that he sensed a certain amount of optimism spreading throughout the conference hall.

"I do not want to overstate it," he said. "There are a lot of problem areas that need to be resolved; a lot of brackets (disputed text wording) that will not have been removed" before the ministerial session. "Nevertheless, it is a very good atmosphere. I think a great majority of the delegations in this hall want to see an agreement on the major issues ... "

Hambley pointed in particular to progress on the so-called market-based mechanisms, such as emissions trading. This mechanism would allow a company, such as a power plant, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions below what is required, and then use or trade the excess reductions to offset emissions at another source where emissions can not be reduced as cheaply. Emissions trading thus provides a cost-effective way for companies or countries to meet their emissions reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

Hambley said that for the last year working groups have been discussing the various elements of the market-based mechanisms, trying to make sure that countries understood what they mean -- a "very difficult" process in Hambley's assessment. "But finally, a couple of days ago, this process ended and we actually got down to negotiating text," he said. "And that is something I think that gives everybody a sense that we want to make progress."

Hambley cited similar progress on issues involving technology transfer to developing countries, and capacity building -- a process of interaction between developing countries and the industrial private sector to help those countries develop the capability and skills needed to achieve economic growth that is environmentally responsible.

David Gardiner, executive director of the White House Climate Change Task Force, told reporters that there has been a fundamental shift in U.S. public opinion on climate change in the three years since the Kyoto Protocol was initially negotiated.

"Public opinion polls today reflect overwhelming majorities of the American public who are concerned about climate change and believe that action is warranted," he said.

But Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Larry Craig of Idaho --attending the conference as observers -- re-emphasized that the U.S. Senate would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol if the proposed cuts in greenhouse gas emissions would damage the U.S. economy. They said the Senate was also opposed to any mandate to cut emissions that did not include similar actions by developing nations.

The developing countries, which generally regard greenhouse warming as a threat created by the industrialized countries, have so far adamantly refused to consider limits on their greenhouse gas emissions.