[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 50 (Monday, December 15, 1997)]
[Page 2017]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure From New York City and an Exchange With Reporters

December 10, 1997

Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change

    The President. I'm sorry about the rain. I'll make this brief, but I 
want to take a moment before I leave to comment on the outcome of the 
climate change negotiations that have just been completed in Japan.
    I am very pleased that the United States has reached a truly 
historic agreement with other nations of the world to take unprecedented 
steps to address the global problem of climate change. The agreement is 
environmentally strong and economically sound. It reflects a commitment 
by our generation to act in the interests of future generations.
    The United States delegation, at the direction of the Vice 
President, and with the very, very skilled leadership of Under Secretary 
Stu Eizenstat, showed the way. The momentum generated by the Vice 
President's visit helped to move the negotiations, and I thank him very 
much.
    I'm particularly pleased that the agreement strongly reflects the 
commitment of the United States to use the tools of the free market to 
tackle this problem.
    There are still hard challenges ahead, especially in the area of 
involvement by the developing nations. It's essential that they 
participate in a meaningful way if we are to truly tackle this problem. 
But the joint implementation provisions of the agreement open the way to 
that result. The industrialized nations have come together and taken a 
strong step, and that is real progress.
    Finally, I cannot say enough about the extraordinary leadership of 
Prime Minister Hashimoto. The people of Japan should be very proud of 
the spirit and the work that their country's leaders did to make this 
historic day possible.
    Thank you very much.
    Q. [Inaudible]
    The President. No. No. And the agreement we made is actually, 
because of the way the details are worked out and what counts against 
the total, even though we have committed to a 7 percent reduction, it's 
actually closer to our original position than that indicates. We will 
make some reduction. I think we can.
    We got what we wanted, which is joint implementation, emissions 
trading, a market-oriented approach. I wish it were a little stronger on 
developing nations participation. But we opened the way--the only way we 
can get there through joint implementation of projects in those 
countries.
    This is a very good agreement. It is going to be possible for us to 
do this and grow our economy. It is environmentally sound. It's a huge 
first step. And I did not dream when we started that we could get this 
far. We should be very, very proud of this.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:30 p.m. at John F. Kennedy International 
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to the Kyoto Protocol to the 
Framework Convention on Climate Change reached at the Third Session of 
the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention 
on Climate Change, which was held in Kyoto, Japan, December 1-10. The 
President also referred to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of Japan. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.