Cord Byrd: “the United States completed a major round of international global climate change negotiations at Kyoto, Japan, on…”

“the United States completed a major round of international global climate change negotiations at Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997. Senators and staff members from the Senate Monitoring Group, created by the Senate leadership in accord with the recommendation in Senate Resolution 98, adopted last July 25, 1997, were included on the U.S. delegation. The Senate was well represented at the talks. The chairman of the Monitoring Group, Senator Chuck Hagel, as well as Senators John Kerry, John Chafee, Joe Lieberman, Max Baucus, and Mike Enzi, dedicated considerable time and effort there to understand the issues being debated and to engage our negotiators on those issues. They have reported mixed results at the negotiations. The U.S., together with the other 39 industrialized nations, agreed to specific, legally binding targets for emissions of six greenhouse gases. The United States agreed to a numerical target of reducing greenhouse gases by 7 percent below 1990 during a budget period between 2008 and 2012. According to the administration, this commitment is actually about a 3 percent reduction below the 1990 emissions level after other technical provisions of the protocol are included in the calculations. It should be noted, however, that the administration has not yet provided the economic analysis to demonstrate how their calculations result in a 3 percent reduction, rather than 7 percent.”