Perspectives
on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol: Viewpoints from the European Union
and the United States
Friday,
April 27, 2001
10:00
– 11:30 am, 366 Dirksen Senate Office Building
The
Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) sponsored a Congressional
briefing featuring a European perspective on climate change and the Kyoto
Protocol, as well as varying Congressional viewpoints.
Presenting a European perspective was Dr. Michael Grubb,
Professor of Climate Change and Energy Policy at Imperial College in London,
Senior Research Associate at the Department of Applied Economics in Cambridge
University and Fellow of the Royal Institute for International Affairs. Dr.
Grubb has also been a Lead Author for several reports of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and an advisor to the European Commission (the
European Union’s executive branch) on the Kyoto Protocol.
Dr. Grubb discussed the European view of the Kyoto
Protocol, internal policies in Europe, the economics of limiting CO2 emissions,
and the development of energy sector market forces necessary to meet the
commitments in the Protocol.
In response, various Congressional perspectives on climate
change and the Kyoto Protocol were offered by Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) as well
as Dr. Bryan
Hannegan, Majority Staff Scientist, Senate Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources, Kathryn Parker, Senior Staff Scientist, Senator Jeffords (R-VT), and
Tim Profeta,
Legislative Council, Senator Lieberman (D-CT).
In a March
letter to three Senators, President Bush announced that the United States would
abandon the Kyoto Protocol. The statement generated great controversy among
interest groups and government officials around the world. The U.S.
announcement has significantly changed the political landscape for all
concerned parties. In the months leading up to the reconvening of the
Conference of Parties (the meeting of countries under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change) in July at Bonn, Germany, many
uncertainties remain. These include questions concerning how the U.S. position
will affect the negotiations in Bonn, whether domestic initiatives should
address the problem of climate change, as well as uncertainties about how
solutions to domestic energy and environmental problems interrelate with the
global problem of climate change. The briefing explored these and other
related questions.