[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 19 (Friday, February 18, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1708-S1709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GLOBAL WARMING

 Ms. SNOWE. I rise today as lead cosponsor of S.J. Res. 5, the 
Feinstein-Snowe joint resolution that authorizes the Secretary of State 
to engage in efforts with other Federal agencies to lead international 
negotiations to mitigate the impacts of global warming. Our resolution 
encourages the United States to take actions to reduce manmade 
greenhouse gas emissions believed by the majority of internationally 
renowned scientists to be causing climate changes around the globe.
  I support this resolution because ongoing scientific peer-reviewed 
research demonstrates that climate change is one of the most 
significant environmental and economical issues of the 21st century. 
Yet, I have grave concerns that our government, to borrow from the 
image of Nero, is fiddling as the planet warms.
  On Wednesday, February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol on climate change 
officially entered into force, with 141 States and regional economic 
integration organizations depositing instruments of ratifications, 
accessions, approvals or acceptances with the United Nations. The 
treaty, which will require mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions 
in 35 participating developed countries starting in 2008, represents a 
watershed moment for international action on climate change.
  The Protocol was agreed to by governments at a 1997 U.N. conference 
in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by 
developed countries by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels between 2008 and 
2012.
  Even with the Kyoto Protocol going into effect, it is obvious that 
new and longer term ideas for securing international cooperation are 
necessary as we cannot get to the heart of this global problem without 
the world's major economies at the table. The United States and 
Australia have not ratified the Protocol, and developing countries, 
while signatories to Kyoto, are not required to make cuts. This 
includes large, rapidly industrializing economies such as China, India, 
and Brazil. Clearly, as the causes of climate change are global and the 
atmosphere knows no boundaries, the challenge can only be met with all 
the countries of the world working together.
  That is why, this past year, when asked by three major independent 
think tanks--the Center for American Progress in the US, the Institute 
for Public Policy Research in the U.K. and the Australia Institute--I 
accepted the co-chairmanship of the high level International Climate 
Change Taskforce--the ICCT--to chart a way forward on climate change on 
a parallel track with the Kyoto process.
  This led me to meetings both in Washington and London with my co-
chair, the Rt. Honorable Stephen Byers of the U.K. Mr. Byers told me 
that Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the creation of the taskforce 
and looked forward to its climate change recommendations that he could 
take forward as he assumed the presidency of the G8 and also the EU in 
2005. In fact, Prime Minister Blair has made the issue of climate 
change a centerpiece of his agenda for the G8 meeting in July in 
Gleneagles, Scotland, and, recently, he included some of our 
recommendations in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 
Switzerland.
  We have achieved our goals for recommendations for the taskforce, 
which is an international, cross-party, cross-sector collaboration of 
leaders from public service, science, business, and civil society from 
both developed and developing countries. We set out a pathway to solve 
climate change issues in tandem--collaboratively finding common ground 
through recommendations that are both ambitious and realistic to engage 
all countries, and, critically, including those not bound by the Kyoto 
Protocol and major developing countries. We hope our proposals will be 
a prelude to the international dialogue and, ultimately, set the score 
for lasting change.
  Our ICCT report, Meeting the Climate Challenge, recommends ways to 
involve the world's largest economies in the effort, including the U.S. 
and major developing nations, focusing on creating new agreements to 
achieve the deployment of clean energy technologies, and a new global 
policy framework that is both inclusive and fair. The report also calls 
for the establishment of a long-term objective of preventing global 
average temperature from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit--(2 
degrees Centigrade)--above the pre-industrial level by the end of the 
century, and this same provision is contained in the Feinstein-Snowe 
Resolution.

  Mr. President, the taskforce arrived at the 2 degrees Centigrade--or 
3.6 degree Fahrenheit--temperature increase

[[Page S1709]]

goal on the basis of an extensive review of the relevant scientific 
literature that shows that, as the ICC report states, ``Beyond the 2 
degree Centigrade level, the risks to human societies and ecosystems 
grow significantly. It is likely, for example, that average temperature 
increased larger than this will entail substantial agricultural losses, 
greatly increases numbers of people at risk of water shortages, and 
widespread adverse health impacts.''
  Our report goes on to say that, ``Climate science is not yet able to 
specify the trajectory of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse 
gases that corresponds precisely to any particular global temperature 
rise. Based on current knowledge, however, it appears that achieving a 
high probability of limiting global average temperature rise to 2 
degrees C will require that the increase in greenhouse-gas 
concentrations as well as all the other warming and cooling influences 
on global climate in the year 2100, as compared with 1750, should add 
up to a net warming no greater than what would be associated with a 
CO2 concentration of about 400 parts per million (ppm)''.
  I am pleased that the S.J. Res. includes the ICCT's first 
recommendation: Establishing a long-term objective for a global average 
temperature increase. This comports well with the McCain and Lieberman 
Climate Stewardship Act introduced last week, for which I am a 
cosponsor. This bill would create a domestic market-based cap-and-trade 
system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Again, the ICCT Taskforce 
recommends that all developed countries introduce national mandatory 
cap-and-trade systems for carbon emissions, and to construct them to 
allow for their future integration into a single global market.
  The Feinstein-Snowe resolution includes other goals of the ICCT 
taskforce, encouraging the U.S. to carry out reasonable and responsible 
actions to ensure significant and meaningful reductions in emissions of 
manmade greenhouse gases, particularly through generating climate-
friendly technologies to promote sustained economic growth. 
Importantly, like the ICCT Report, it also calls for international 
negotiations under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change, 
UNFCCC, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1992, and this should 
be done for the post-Kyoto period, or after 2012.
  Mr. President, even with the Kyoto Protocol going into effect, it is 
obvious that new ideas for securing international cooperation are 
necessary as we cannot get to the heart of this global problem without 
the world's major economies at the table. We have a choice between an 
even greater treacherous path of increased environmental damage and 
economic harm, or an upward path to a better future for our planet, and 
enhanced competitiveness for our industries. Again, the ICCT report 
addresses this, calling for the formation of a G8 plus Climate Group I 
between the G8 and the major developing countries to pursue technology 
agreements and related initiatives that will truly lead to large global 
emissions reductions.
  To mitigate further losses, the U.S. should actively engage in the 
discussions at the upcoming G8 Summit, offering viable recommendations 
and realistic goals for further domestic and international emissions 
reductions. The U.S. can ensure the protection of the competitiveness 
of U.S. industry while at the same time joining with others to take 
positive action to tackle global warming. The U.S. has the opportunity 
to re-engage as a world leader, serving as a model for developing 
nations such as China and India, whose unchecked CO2 
emissions will soon rival those of the United States.
  The urgency is clear as climate change is no longer an abstract 
concept. Polar ice caps are melting. Sea levels are rising. And the 
earth's temperature is undeniably climbing--with ten of the warmest 
years on record since 1990. Documented by countless scientific studies, 
the world bears witness to the effects of climate change. A result of 
increases in manmade carbon dioxide emissions, climate change appears 
to be impacting the planet's weather patterns, resulting in more 
severe, sustained storm systems, floods, heat waves, and droughts.
  Earlier this month, an international conference of scientists 
recommended that action must be taken now to reduce emissions in order 
to stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. 
Their report warned that a delay of even five years could be 
significant. And, beyond environmental devastation, climate change 
dictates serious economic and human costs.
  Mr. President, it has been a privilege to work on this Senate Joint 
Resolution with Senator Feinstein of California, and I urge my 
colleagues to give our resolution full consideration as the rest of the 
developed world strives not only to protect today's environment and 
economies but to bequeath a healthy and sustainable planet to future 
generations. I encourage my colleagues to support this 
resolution.

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