policy issues 18 that will enable the U.S. to make wiser decisions on more dramatic and possibly higher cost actions, which should only be undertaken in the context of concerted international action.19 Section 1605 lists a number of emission reduction and carbon fixation measures that companies can undertake voluntarily: fuel switching, forest management practices, tree planting, use of renewables, manufacture or use of vehicles with reduced greenhouse gas emissions, appliance efficiency, energy efficiency, methane recovery, cogeneration, capture and chlorofluorocarbons, and power plant heat rate improvement. list of voluntary actions is by no means exhaustive. recovery of This Environmental Protection Agency EPA has been pursuing the voluntary approach to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions with its green programs for a number of years. Most of these, such as Green Lights and Energy Star computers, are well documented in the U.S. NAP. In addition, EPA and several manufacturers are reportedly working on a voluntary green program involving computer printers. We note that the Administration is seeking an additional $23 million in supplemental funding for FY 1993 (over and above the current funding level of $8 million) for EPA's green programs, and an additional $117 million for these programs through FY 1988. These programs are generally characterized in the U.S. NAP as "market-pull" programs, where mass-purchase initiatives and industry program coordination aimed at new technologies can help get products off the drawing board and into the marketplace. The Act also encourages federal and voluntary incentives programs, in the section 1604 study provision. In addition, it provides for some specific tax credits in title XIX for programs that will result in reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Any Appropriate U.S. National Action Plan Should Include Several Key Concepts. ☐ The Global Climate Coalition Supports a Flexible, The U.S. NAP should include several key concepts. The Global Climate Coalition supports a flexible, balanced, comprehensive and international approach in responding to concerns related to the global climate change issue. Such an approach should be based on cost-effective, scientifically sound policies that are independently justifiable on their own grounds. Moreover, both internationally and nationally governments should further enhance scientific and economic research to help resolve the many remaining uncertainties of global climate issues. As summarized in the 1990 First Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these major uncertainties include: the magnitude, timing, rate and regional impacts of potential climate change; the effectiveness of specific response options in actually averting potential climate change; and the costs, effects on economic growth and other socioeconomic implications of specific response options. Furthermore, there is time to resolve the major scientific and economic uncertainties before taking actions that go beyond those that are cost effective, scientifically sound and independently justifiable on their own grounds. 20 A Comprehensive, Multilateral Response Is Needed. A comprehensive, international approach to the global climate change issue is called for because greenhouse gas emissions are a global phenomenon and must be addressed by all countries. Rising levels of emissions from developing countries already far exceed emissions from industrial countries. In fact, then Senator Gore 20 - A. Manne & R. Richels, "Reducing U.S. CO2 Emissions The Value of Flexibility in Timing" (draft) (Nov. 1992), presented at "Global Energy Strategies," Ninth Annual Conference of the Center for Environmental Information, Washington, D.C. (Dec. 810, 1992). stated for the record last year: If the United States not only stabilizes emissions but reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, and if every other industrial country also reduces greenhouse emissions by 50 percent, and the developing countries continue on their current path, then worldwide greenhouse gas emissions will, by the year 2030, increase by 250 percent. 21 In the next century, the major emitters of greenhouse gases will be the emerging economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe, China and centrally planned Asia, and other developing countries. See Figure 1. By 2050 these emerging economies will generate nearly 77 percent of the world's total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, any additional action on the global climate change issue must take into account the further negotiations of the INC and the work of the IPCC. Proceeding on a unilateral basis to stabilize or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the absence of an international agreement applicable to all nations emitting greenhouse gases and with an effective enforcement mechanism, could place U.S. industry at a competitive disadvantage in world markets and could harm our nation's economy. The Global Climate Coalition supports the longstanding 21 137 Cong. Rec. S4890 (daily ed. Apr. 7, 1992) (statement of Sen. Gore). |