[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 13, 1992]
[Page 1818]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1818]]


Statement on Signing the Instrument of Ratification for the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
October 13, 1992

    Today I have signed the instrument of ratification for the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which I submitted to the 
U.S. Senate for advice and consent on September 8, 1992. The Senate 
consented to ratification on October 7, 1992. With this action, the 
United States becomes the first industrialized nation (and the fourth 
overall) to ratify this historic treaty.
    I signed this convention on June 12, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro at the 
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The 
convention was also signed by 153 other nations and the European 
Community. Today I am calling on them to join us in ratifying the 
convention as soon as possible and making a prompt start in its 
implementation.
    The Climate Convention is the first step in crucial long-term 
international efforts to address climate change. The international 
community moved with unprecedented speed in negotiating this convention 
and thereby beginning the response to climate change.
    As proposed by the United States, the convention is comprehensive in 
scope and action-oriented. All parties must inventory all sources and 
sinks of greenhouse gases and establish national climate change 
programs. Industrialized countries must go further, outlining in detail 
the programs and measures they will undertake to limit greenhouse 
emissions and adapt to climate change and quantifying expected results. 
Parties will meet on a regular basis to review and update those plans in 
the light of evolving scientific and economic information.
    Since UNCED, the United States has begun to refine its national 
action plan, based on the U.S. climate change strategy first announced 
in February 1991 and updated in April 1992. The United States was one of 
the first nations to lay out its action plan, which will reduce 
projected levels of net greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2000 by as 
much as 11 percent.
    Through such measures as the newly enacted national energy 
legislation, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the Intermodal 
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1992, and other programs and 
policies of this administration, I am confident the United States will 
continue to lead the world in taking economically sensible actions to 
reduce the threat of climate change.
    The United States is also assisting developing nations with their 
treaty obligations. Specifically, we are committed to providing $25 
million to help such nations fund ``country studies'' that will 
inventory each country's sources and sinks of greenhouse gases and 
identify options for mitigating and adapting to climate change. The 
United States hosted an international workshop from September 14 to 16 
at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California 
to plan these country studies.
    We look forward to the December session of the Intergovernmental 
Negotiating Committee, December 7-10 in Geneva, to discuss with other 
parties how best to move forward in promoting the objectives of the 
treaty.