Department of State Washington File: Text: Watson: U.S. Committed to Addressing Climate Change Challenge

*EPF306 10/08/2003
Text: Watson: U.S. Committed to Addressing Climate Change Challenge
(State Department's Harlan Watson at European Policy Center in Brussels) (3050)

"The United States takes the issue of climate change very seriously and remains committed to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change," said Harlan Watson, the State Department's senior climate negotiator, in a speech at the European Policy Center in Brussels October 8.

Disagreeing with the perception in Europe that the United States is acting unilaterally, Watson pointed out that the United States is "actively engaged, both domestically and internationally��and in particular with several EU Member States and the European Commission in a number of new climate change initiatives."

The ultimate goal "is to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate," Watson said. "The policy recognizes the need to take near-term actions, while maintaining economic growth that will improve the world's standard of living. It is grounded in the reality that addressing the issue of climate change will require the sustained effort by all nations over many generations" as well as the development of new technologies.

President Bush's policy "has three basic components designed to address both the near-term and long-term aspects of climate change: (1) slowing the growth of GHG emissions; (2) laying important groundwork for both current and future action; and (3) working with other nations to an efficient and effective global response," Watson noted, going on to describe these components in some detail.

He said Bush's Fiscal Year 2003 budget devoted $4.5 billion [$4,500 million] to addressing climate change, up $700 million from the FY 2002 budget.

On the international front, the policy "recognizes the critical importance of developing-country participation in any effective global response to climate change," Watson said. "This participation includes both near-term efforts to slow GHG emissions growth and longer-term efforts to build capacity for future cooperation. It also means working hand-in-hand with other developed countries to encourage such participation."

The United States is "leading major multilateral and bilateral climate change initiatives," Watson said. "While we differ [with the EU Member States and the European Commission] in our approaches to addressing climate change, we must keep in mind that we are all working toward the same goal, and that we all cooperate in this important effort."

Below are Mr. Warson's remarks as prepared for delivery:

(begin text)

U.S. CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY

Delivered by Harlan Watson,
Senior Climate Negotiator in the U.S. State Department
European Policy Centre in Brussels, Belgium
October 8, 2003

Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the climate change policy of the United States.

Climate change is an issue of great importance and concern to both Europe and the United States, and, quite frankly, an issue that has caused friction between us. I believe there is a widespread impression in Europe and elsewhere that the United States is not taking climate change seriously and has been acting "unilaterally" in its approach because of its rejection of the Kyoto Protocol. This is not the case. In fact, the U.S. is actively engaged, both domestically and internationally��and in particular with several EU Member States and the European Commission in a number of new climate change initiatives��and I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight.

The U.S. climate change policy, as articulated by President Bush in his June 11, 2001, and February 14, 2002 climate change policy announcements reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its ultimate objective��to stabilize atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate.

The policy recognizes the need to take near-term actions, while maintaining economic growth that will improve the world's standard of living. It is grounded in the reality that addressing the issue of climate change will require the sustained effort by all nations over many generations. And it will require the development and deployment of new transformational technologies during this century��technologies that will allow us to produce and use energy with little or no net emissions of GHGs and technologies that will allow the use of abundant fossil fuels.

President Bush's climate change policy has three basic components designed to address both the near-term and long-term aspects of climate change: (1) slowing the growth of GHG emissions; (2) laying important groundwork for both current and future action; and (3) working with other nations to an efficient and effective global response.

The first component involves a series of actions aimed at slowing the growth of our GHG emissions. The President set a national goal of reducing U.S. GHG intensity (GHG emissions per dollar of GDP) by 18 percent over the next ten years��a nearly 30 percent improvement over business-as-usual.

Like an absolute emissions target, an intensity reduction of this magnitude requires real effort��meeting this commitment will achieve 100 million metric tons of carbon-equivalent emissions reductions in 2012 alone, with more than 500 million metric tons in cumulative carbon-equivalent emissions reductions through 2012, an amount equal to taking 70 million cars off the road. Unlike an absolute emission target, however, an intensity target of this magnitude will not inadvertently hurt our economy.

The second component focuses on laying the groundwork for both current and future action��investments in science, technology, and institutions. Better science to promote better decision-making; better technology to slow GHG emissions growth; and better institutions to enable us to pursue the lowest-cost emissions reduction opportunities, whatever they may be, whenever they arise over time, and wherever they occur both within and across nations.

The third component is international cooperation, which recognizes the critical importance of developing-country participation in any effective global response to climate change. This participation includes both near-term efforts to slow GHG emissions growth and longer-term efforts to build capacity for future cooperation. It also means working hand-in-hand with other developed countries to encourage such participation.

U.S. climate change policy has six elements that support the near-term 10-year GHG intensity goal, as well as address the long-term challenge of climate change.

· More than 60 Federal (and many more State) programs to help slow the growth of U.S. GHG emissions over the next decade and beyond.

- Expanded use of clean energy/energy efficiency technologies and transportation sector improvements.

- Increased incentives for carbon sequestration.

- Improvements in the existing GHG voluntary registry, along with transferable credits for real reductions.

- Unprecedented funding for climate change-related programs.

- Enhanced support in the developing world and for international bilateral cooperation.

First, there are more than 60 Federal (and many more State) programs��some mandatory, some voluntary, and some incentive-based��that will help to slow the growth in U.S. GHG emissions over the next decade and beyond.

Examples of Federal mandates include Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), appliance and Clean Air Act standards and regulations. In addition to Federal mandates, a number of States have enacted renewable portfolio standards requiring that a certain proportion of electricity generated within the State be supplied by renewable energy sources, as well as restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

There are also numerous voluntary programs that are helping consumers and many corporations to make great strides in reducing their GHG emissions through participation in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) voluntary programs.

One example is the DOE Climate VISION program, a Presidential initiative launched in February 2003 that is designed to reduce the growth of GHG emissions by energy-intensive industrial sectors. Participants in the program account for between 40 and 50 percent of U.S. GHG emissions.

Under Climate VISION, these sectors have agreed to meet specific commitments to reduce their industry emissions and to use their successes to help enable those in other sectors, such as the commercial and residential sectors, to reduce their GHG impacts. The program works with industry trade associations to accelerate the transition to practices, technologies, and processes that are cleaner, more efficient, and capable of capturing or sequestering GHGs.

The EPA's Climate Leaders program is another voluntary program with similar goals for individual companies and other entities.

The second element of the U.S. climate change policy is expanded use of clean energy and energy efficiency technologies. The President is committed to promoting renewable energy production, energy efficiency, clean coal technologies, and nuclear power, as well as greater efforts to safely improve fuel economy for our cars and our trucks in order to reduce GHG emissions.

The Bush Administration has supported incentive-based programs, such as tax credits, to encourage purchases of hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, to promote residential solar energy, and to reward investments in wind, solar and biomass energy production. The President's comprehensive energy plan, which is currently under consideration by Congress, provides $5.2 billion [$5,200 million] over the next five years and $8.0 billion [$8,000 million] over the next 10 years in such clean energy tax incentives.

Third, there are increased incentives for carbon sequestration to increase the amount of carbon stored by America's farms and forests. Under the Farm Bill enacted last year, the U.S. will invest up to $47 billion [$47,000 million] in the next decade for conservation measures on its farms and forest lands��including measures that will also enhance the natural storage of carbon. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that actions taken to date will sequester over 12 million metric tons annually by 2012.

The fourth element consists of improvements to the current Federal GHG Reduction and Sequestration Registry that recognizes GHG reductions by non-governmental organizations, businesses, farmers, and Federal, State and local governments. The Secretary of Energy��working the Secretaries of Commerce and Agriculture, and the Administrator of EPA��is moving forward to create world-class standards for measuring and registering emission reductions. These improvements, which include better measurement and verification of the different GHGs emitted by a wide variety of sources and activities, will provide greater confidence in the reported results and will encourage firms to take account of their emissions. This enhanced registry will promote the identification and expansion of innovative and effective ways to reduce GHG emissions, and will encourage participation by removing the risk that these actions will be penalized��or inaction rewarded��under a future climate policy.

Fifth, there is unprecedented funding for climate change-related programs. Overall, President Bush's Fiscal Year 2003 budget devoted $4.5 billion [$4,500 million] to addressing climate change��more than any other nation's commitment��an increase of more than $700 million the previous year's budget. This includes almost $1.8 billion [$1,800 million] for climate change science, $1.6 billion [$1,600 million] for climate change technologies, and $279 million for international assistance��a 29 percent increase.

And sixth, President Bush has highlighted the importance of international cooperation to develop an effective and efficient global response to the complex and long-term challenge of climate change. Any effective international response to climate change requires developing-country participation, which includes both near-term efforts to slow the growth in emissions and longer-term efforts to build capacity for future cooperation.

Since 2001, the U.S. has revitalized or initiated 13 formal bilateral relationships with Japan, European Union (EU), Italy, Australia, and Canada, New Zealand, and Russia among the developed countries; as well as Central American Countries (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama), China, India, Republic of Korea, Mexico, and South Africa among the developing countries. Together with the United States, these countries account for approximately 75% of global CO2 emissions.

While each of these bilateral relationships is unique, there is a common interest in advancing climate change science and technology.

Contrary to the claims of some that we know everything we need to know about the science of climate change, we really know little about the scope, magnitude, timing, or regional distribution of future climate change or its potential impact on society. In fact, we lack the necessary environmental data��especially in developing countries��required to understand the Earth system. To address this major deficiency, the United States hosted the Earth Observation Summit in Washington this summer that was attended by over 40 nations and international organizations, including several EU countries and the European Commission. The goal of the Summit and follow-on activities is to design and implement over the next 10 years a new international, integrated, sustained, and comprehensive Earth observation system that will greatly advance our understanding of climate change.

With regard to technology, there is a growing realization that existing energy technologies, even with substantial improvements, cannot meet the growing global demand for energy while delivering the emissions reductions necessary to stabilize atmospheric GHG concentrations. We need to develop and deploy globally "transformational" technologies��that is, revolutionary changes in the technology of energy production, distribution, storage, conversion, and use. Some examples include carbon sequestration, hydrogen, and advanced nuclear technologies. The U.S. is not only pursuing these domestically, but is also leading three major multilateral international technology efforts and participating in a fourth.

Carbon sequestration involves removing carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion emissions streams and permanently storing it in deep underground formations, such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs, unmineable coal seams, and deep saline aquifers. It is a top priority for the United States because of our large coal reserves and the fact that fossil fuels will continue for the foreseeable future to be the world's most reliable and lowest-cost energy resources. The International Energy Agency projects a 50 percent increase in worldwide coal use for electricity generation over the next quarter century, most of it in developing countries such as China and India, which have large coal reserves. The United States is currently working with private sector partners on 65 carbon sequestration projects around the country, and we have increased our carbon sequestration budget by 60 percent.

International cooperation in carbon sequestration research is also a key aspect of our approach. The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, a Bush Administration initiative, is a multilateral effort to advance technologies that capture and store carbon emissions. The Forum was inaugurated formally at a ministerial meeting in June, during which 13 coal producing and consuming nations and the European Commission signed an international charter establishing a framework for cooperative research and development. The Forum's partners, who include the United Kingdom and Italy, will also be invited to participate in our $1 billion [$1,000 million] FutureGen project��an initiative to design and construct the first emission-free coal-fired power plant. FutureGen will be one of the boldest steps our nation takes toward a pollution-free energy future. It will be a living prototype, testing the latest technologies to generate electricity, produce hydrogen, and sequester GHG emissions from coal. We expect that FutureGen will help lead to the development of clean fossil fuel power plants all across the world and will allow this abundant and economical fuel source to continue producing energy without its traditional environmental side-effects.

Looking beyond traditional energy sources, earlier this year President Bush announced his groundbreaking plan to change our nation's energy future to one that utilizes the most abundant element in the universe��hydrogen. Hydrogen represents one of the most attractive options to meet both our energy and environmental goals. It has a high-energy content, it produces no pollution when used to create energy in fuel cells, and it can be produced from a number of different sources, including renewable resources, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy. Over the next five years, the United States has pledged $1.7 billion [$1,700 million] to fund the ambitious FreedomCAR and Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to develop emission-free automotive operating systems that run on hydrogen.

The United States has called for the establishment of an International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy with a ministerial meeting planned for November in Washington to coordinate multinational research and development programs to accelerate the transition to a global hydrogen economy. Fifteen potential international partners, including the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, are expected to participate. The public-private collaborations envisioned under the Partnership will address the technological, financial, and institutional barriers to hydrogen and develop internationally recognized technology standards to speed market penetration of new hydrogen-based technologies.

We also have to recognize nuclear energy as a clean energy choice, both in the near- and longer-term. The U.S.-led Generation IV program, comprised of 11 international partners including the United Kingdom and France, is working on new fission reactor designs that will be safer, more economical and secure, and able to produce new products, such as hydrogen.

Also, earlier this year President Bush announced that the United States would rejoin the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), an ambitious international project also involving Canada, China, the European Commission, Japan, Russia and South Korea, to develop nuclear fusion as a future energy source. Although the technical hurdles of fusion energy are high, we feel the promise of this technology is simply too great to ignore.

Taken together, these multilateral research and technology initiatives, if successful, add up to what can only be described as a long-term revolution in our energy systems. Not only will these technologies put us on a long-term path to stabilizing atmospheric GHG concentrations, they will also ensure secure, reliable, affordable, and clean energy to power economic growth and development across the globe.

In closing, I want to emphasize that the United States takes the issue of climate change very seriously and remains committed to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. We are investing billions to dollars to address the climate change��both in the near-term and long-term. We are also fully engaged internationally, and are leading major multilateral and bilateral climate change initiatives��many of which involve a number of the EU Member States and the European Commission. While we differ in our approaches to addressing climate change, we must keep in mind that we are all working toward the same goal, and that we all cooperate in this important effort.

Thank you for your attention, and I welcome your questions and comments.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents