Tài liệu Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy docx

Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy [...]... the next administration is likely to shape U.S climate policy for decades to come Currently, post -Bush climate policy threatens to become an exercise in needlessly expensive symbolic politics Leaving an institutional vacuum in U.S climate policy is an invitation to policy mischief in the coming years To avoid this outcome, the administration needs to conduct a rapid review of its climate policy options. .. dealing with Kyoto, the Bush administration has “scotch’d the snake, not killed it.” Despite America’s rejection, the Kyoto Protocol 14 STRATEGIC OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE POLICY did not die; in fact, in 2005, it achieved the participation level needed for it to come into force Its existence still plagues American—and international climate policy The protocol creates hazards for foreign politicians seeking... end, 18 STRATEGIC OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE POLICY FIGURE 1 BUSH ADMINISTRATION INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVES Bush Administration International Climate Initiatives APP Other Tech R&D Partnerships Diffusion Agreements G-8 Process COP Participation GNEP SOURCE: Author’s illustration the administration gave nothing on substance It agreed to participate in workshops about hypothetical future climate. .. next presidential administration Ultimately, then, if only for defensive reasons, the Bush administration should consider devising and proposing an expanded climate policy initiative that might succeed in foreclosing the Kyoto-style options that are becoming increasingly popular Time is short Presidential backing would be essential for the prospects of such an initiative Unless the Bush administration. .. spent-fuel disposal problems, making nuclear power a more attractive climate policy solution Hence, GNEP’s success would spell a major climate policy advance Critics rightly point to technical 26 STRATEGIC OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE POLICY difficulties and serious economic challenges.44 But this program does appear to be a high priority for the administration, and it is operating on an aggressive schedule, bolstered... sufficient one for someday constructing a successful international GHG control regime R&D might also produce innovative countermeasures that could obviate the need for expensive GHG abatement Despite its virtues, Bush administration climate policy runs the risk of failing Its prospects for significantly reducing the future costs of climate change to a large extent hinge on the administration s climate- related... support GNEP’s relatively high priority suggests that the Bush administration largely follows a “no regrets” policy on climate- related technologies.45 While it happily claims credit for programs that promise climate policy benefits, its resource commitments are heavily influenced by nonclimate concerns With GNEP climate considera, tions reinforce higher-priority antiproliferation and energy supply... entangle the Bush administration in a G8 negotiation on climate policy The Bush administration would have preferred not to handle this matter at the G8 Notwithstanding these reservations, the United States emerged rather well from the negotiation’s first round The Gleneagles G8 summit communiqué reflected the administration s emphasis on technology and on multiple approaches to climate policy In theory,... 24 STRATEGIC OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE POLICY directs (in Title XVI) the State Department and the U.S Trade Representative to identify and seek ways to surmount barriers to the diffusion of the technologies So far, the Bush administration, although it supported enactment of Title XVI, has not done the analyses needed to implement it The Department of Energy argues that Congress failed to provide funding for. .. Clinton administration, therefore, national climate policy was at an impasse, unable either to advance or retreat Upon taking office, the Bush administration swiftly extricated the United States from this untenable position The administration s bold rejection of the protocol, however, set the country at odds with its traditional western and central European allies The brusque manner in which the administration . Strategic Options for Bush Administration Climate Policy