Whereas there is a scientific consensus, as established by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and confirmed by the National
Academy of Sciences, that the continued buildup of anthropogenic greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere threatens the stability of the global climate;
Whereas there are significant long-term risks to the
economy and the environment of the United States from the temperature increases
and climatic disruptions that are projected to result from increased greenhouse
gas concentrations;
Whereas the potential impacts of global climate change,
including long-term drought, famine, mass migration, and abrupt climatic
shifts, may lead to international tensions and instability in regions affected
and, therefore, have implications for the national security interests of the
United States;
Whereas the United States has the largest economy in the
world and is also the largest emitter of greenhouse gases;
Whereas the greenhouse gas emissions of the United States
are projected to continue to rise;
Whereas the greenhouse gas emissions of developing
countries are rising more rapidly than the emissions of the United States and
will soon surpass the greenhouse gas emissions of the United States and other
developed countries;
Whereas reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the levels
necessary to avoid serious climatic disruption requires the introduction of new
energy technologies and other climate-friendly technologies, the use of which
results in low or no emissions of greenhouse gases or in the capture and
storage of greenhouse gases;
Whereas the development and sale of climate-friendly
technologies in the United States and internationally present economic
opportunities for workers and businesses in the United States;
Whereas climate-friendly technologies can improve air
quality by reducing harmful pollutants from stationary and mobile sources and
can enhance energy security by reducing reliance on imported oil, diversifying
energy sources, and reducing the vulnerability of energy delivery
infrastructure;
Whereas other industrialized countries are undertaking
measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which provides the industries in
those countries with a competitive advantage in the growing global market for
climate-friendly technologies;
Whereas efforts to limit emissions growth in developing
countries in a manner that is consistent with the development needs of those
countries could establish significant markets for climate-friendly technologies
and contribute to international efforts to address climate change;
Whereas the United States Climate Change
Science Program launched by President George W. Bush concluded in April 2006
that there is no longer a discrepancy between the rates of global average
temperature increase observed at the Earth’s surface and in the atmosphere,
strengthening the scientific evidence that human activity contributes
significantly to global temperature increases;
Whereas President Bush, in the State of the Union Address
given in January 2006, called on the United States to reduce its
addiction
to oil and focus its attention on developing cleaner,
renewable, and sustainable energy sources;
Whereas President Bush has launched the Asia-Pacific
Partnership on Clean Development and Climate to cooperatively develop new and
cleaner energy technologies and promote their use in fast-developing nations
like India and China;
Whereas the national security of the United States will
increasingly depend on the deployment of diplomatic, military, scientific, and
economic resources toward solving the problem of the overreliance of the United
States and the world on high-carbon energy;
Whereas the United States is a party to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, done at New York May 9, 1992, and
entered into force in 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the
Convention
);
Whereas, at the December 2005 United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Montreal, Canada, parties to the Convention, with the
concurrence of the United States, initiated a new dialogue on long-term
cooperative action to address climate change;
Whereas the Convention sets a long-term objective of
stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that
would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system;
Whereas the Convention establishes that parties bear
common but differentiated responsibilities for efforts to achieve the objective
of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations;
Whereas an effective global effort to address climate
change must provide for commitments and action by all countries that are major
emitters of greenhouse gases, developed and developing alike, and the widely
varying circumstances among the developed and developing countries may require
that such commitments and action vary; and
Whereas the United States has the capability to lead the
effort to counter global climate change: Now, therefore, be it
That it is the sense of the Senate
that the United States should act to reduce the health, environmental,
economic, and national security risks posed by global climate change and foster
sustained economic growth through a new generation of technologies, by—
(1)participating in
negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
done at New York May 9, 1992, and entered into force in 1994, and leading
efforts in other international fora, with the objective of securing United
States participation in binding agreements that—
(A)advance and
protect the economic and national security interests of the United
States;
(B)establish
mitigation commitments by all countries that are major emitters of greenhouse
gases, consistent with the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities;
(C)establish
flexible international mechanisms to minimize the cost of efforts by
participating countries; and
(D)achieve a
significant long-term reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions; and
(2)establishing a
bipartisan Senate observer group, the members of which shall be designated by
the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate, to—
(A)monitor any
international negotiations on climate change; and
(B)ensure that the
advice and consent function of the Senate is exercised in a manner to
facilitate timely consideration of any applicable treaty submitted to the
Senate.
March 29, 2007
Reported without amendment