[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: GEORGE W. BUSH (2001, Book I)]
[June 11, 2001]
[Pages 634-637]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on Global Climate Change
June 11, 2001
Good morning. I've just met with senior members of my administration
who are working to develop an effective and science-based approach to
addressing the important issues of global climate change.
This is an issue that I know is very important to the nations of
Europe, which I will be visiting for the first time as President. The
Earth's well-being is also an issue important to America, and it's an
issue that should be important to every nation in every part of our
world.
The issue of climate change respects no border. Its effects cannot
be reined in by an army nor advanced by any ideology. Climate change,
with its potential to impact every corner of the world, is an issue that
must be addressed by the world.
The Kyoto Protocol was fatally flawed in fundamental ways, but the
process used to bring nations together to discuss our joint response to
climate change is an important one. That is why I am today committing
the United States of America to work within the United Nations framework
and elsewhere to develop, with our friends and allies and nations
throughout the world, an effective and science-based response to the
issue of global warming.
My Cabinet-level working group has met regularly for the last 10
weeks to review the most recent, most accurate, and most comprehensive
science. They have heard from scientists offering a wide spectrum of
views. They have reviewed the facts, and they have listened to many
theories and suppositions. The working group asked the
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highly respected National Academy of Sciences to provide us the most up-
to-date information about what is known and about what is not known on
the science of climate change.
First, we know the surface temperature of the Earth is warming. It
has risen by .6 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years. There was a
warming trend from the 1890s to the 1940s, cooling from the 1940s to the
1970s, and then sharply rising temperatures from the 1970s to today.
There is a natural greenhouse effect that contributes to warming.
Greenhouse gases trap heat and thus warm the Earth because they prevent
a significant proportion of infrared radiation from escaping into space.
Concentration of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, have
increased substantially since the beginning of the industrial
revolution. And the National Academy of Sciences indicates that the
increase is due in large part to human activity.
Yet, the Academy's report tells us that we do not know how much
effect natural fluctuations in climate may have had on warming. We do
not know how much our climate could or will change in the future. We do
not know how fast change will occur or even how some of our actions
could impact it. For example, our useful efforts to reduce sulfur
emissions may have actually increased warming because sulfate particles
reflect sunlight, bouncing it back into space. And finally, no one can
say with any certainty what constitutes a dangerous level of warming
and, therefore, what level must be avoided.
The policy challenge is to act in a serious and sensible way, given
the limits of our knowledge. While scientific uncertainties remain, we
can begin now to address the factors that contribute to climate change.
There are only two ways to stabilize concentration of greenhouse
gases: One is to avoid emitting them in the first place; the other is to
try to capture them after they're created. And there are problems with
both approaches. We're making great progress through technology but have
not yet developed cost-effective ways to capture carbon emissions at
their source, although there is some promising work that is being done.
And a growing population requires more energy to heat and cool our
homes, more gas to drive our cars. Even though we're making progress on
conservation and energy efficiency and have significantly reduced the
amount of carbon emissions per unit of GDP, our country, the United
States, is the world's largest emitter of manmade greenhouse gases. We
account for almost 20 percent of the world's manmade greenhouse
emissions. We also account for about one-quarter of the world's economic
output.
We recognize the responsibility to reduce our emissions. We also
recognize the other part of the story, that the rest of the world emits
80 percent of all greenhouse gases, and many of those emissions come
from developing countries.
This is a challenge that requires a 100 percent effort, ours and the
rest of the world's. The world's second largest emitter of greenhouse
gases is China, yet China was entirely exempted from the requirements of
the Kyoto Protocol. India and Germany are among the top emitters, yet
India was also exempt from Kyoto. These and other developing countries
that are experiencing rapid growth face challenges in reducing their
emissions without harming their economies. We want to work cooperatively
with these countries in their efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions and
maintain economic growth.
Kyoto also failed to address two major pollutants that have an
impact on warming, black soot and tropospheric ozone. Both are proven
health hazards. Reducing both would not only address climate change but
also dramatically improve people's health.
Kyoto is, in many ways, unrealistic. Many countries cannot meet
their Kyoto targets. The targets themselves were arbitrary and not based
upon science. For America, complying with those mandates would have a
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negative economic impact, with layoffs of workers and price increases
for consumers. And when you evaluate all these flaws, most reasonable
people will understand that it's not sound public policy. That's why 95
Members of the United States Senate expressed a reluctance to endorse
such an approach.
Yet, America's unwillingness to embrace a flawed treaty should not
be read by our friends and allies as any abdication of responsibility.
To the contrary, my administration is committed to a leadership role on
the issue of climate change. We recognize our responsibility and will
meet it--at home, in our hemisphere, and in the world.
My Cabinet-level working group on climate change is recommending a
number of initial steps and will continue to work on additional ideas.
The working group proposes the United States help lead the way by
advancing the science on climate change, advancing the technology to
monitor and reduce greenhouse gases, and creating partnerships within
our hemisphere and beyond to monitor and measure and mitigate emissions.
I also call on Congress to work with my administration to achieve
the significant emission reductions made possible by implementing the
clean energy technologies proposed in our energy plan.
Our working group study has made it clear that we need to know a lot
more. The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change commits us to
stabilizing concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human
interference with the climate, but no one knows what that level is. The
United States has spent $18 billion on climate research since 1990, 3
times as much as any other country and more than Japan and all 15
nations of the EU combined.
Today I make our investment in science even greater. My
administration will establish the U.S. Climate Change Research
Initiative to study areas of uncertainty and identify priority areas
where investments can make a difference. I'm directing my Secretary of
Commerce, working with other agencies, to set priorities for additional
investments in climate change research, review such investments, and to
improve coordination amongst Federal agencies. We will fully fund high-
priority areas for climate change science over the next 5 years. We'll
also provide resources to build climate observation systems in
developing countries and encourage other developed nations to match our
American commitment. And we propose a joint venture with the EU, Japan,
and others to develop state-of-the-art climate modeling that will help
us better understand the causes and impacts of climate change.
America's the leader in technology and innovation. We all believe
technology offers great promise to significantly reduce emissions,
especially carbon capture, storage, and sequestration technologies. So
we're creating the National Climate Change Technology Initiative to
strengthen research at universities and national labs, to enhance
partnerships in applied research, to develop improved technology for
measuring and monitoring gross and net greenhouse gas emissions, and to
fund demonstration projects for cutting-edge technologies, such as
bioreactors and fuel cells.
Even with the best science, even with the best technology, we all
know the United States cannot solve this global problem alone. We're
building partnerships within the Western Hemisphere and with other like-
minded countries. Last week Secretary Powell
signed a new CONCAUSA Declaration with the countries of Central America,
calling for cooperative efforts on science research, monitoring and
measuring of emissions, technology development, and investment in forest
conservation. We will work with the Inter-American Institute for Global
Change Research and other institutions to better understand regional
impacts of climate change. We will establish a partnership to monitor
and mitigate emissions.
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And at home, I call on Congress to work with my administration on
the initiatives to enhance conservation and energy efficiency outlined
in my energy plan, to implement the increased use of renewables, natural
gas, and hydropower that are outlined in the plan, and to increase the
generation of safe and clean nuclear power. By increasing conservation
and energy efficiency and aggressively using these clean energy
technologies, we can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by significant
amounts in the coming years.
We can make great progress in reducing emissions, and we will. Yet,
even that isn't enough. I've asked my advisers to consider approaches to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including those that tap the power of
markets, help realize the promise of technology, and ensure the widest
possible global participation.
As we analyze the possibilities, we will be guided by several basic
principles. Our approach must be consistent with the long-term goal of
stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Our actions
should be measured as we learn more from science and build on it. Our
approach must be flexible to adjust to new information and take
advantage of new technology. We must always act to ensure continued
economic growth and prosperity for our citizens and for citizens
throughout the world. We should pursue market-based incentives and spur
technological innovation. And finally, our approach must be based on
global participation, including that of developing countries whose net
greenhouse gas emissions now exceed those in the developed countries.
I've asked Secretary Powell and
Administrator Whitman to ensure they
actively work with friends and allies to explore common approaches to
climate change consistent with these principles.
Each step we take will increase our knowledge. We will act, learn,
and act again, adjusting our approaches as science advances and
technology evolves. Our administration will be creative. We're committed
to protecting our environment and improving our economy, to acting at
home and working in concert with the world. This is an administration
that will make commitments we can keep and keep the commitments that we
make.
I look forward to continued discussions with our friends and allies
about this important issue.
Thank you for coming.
Note: The President spoke at 11:10 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
House.