CHAL 16 |
| The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was negotiated during the first Bush administration, signed by the President in Rio and submitted to the Senate for ratification. Ratification was unanimous four months later. Five years later, the Senate voted unanimously in a sense of the Senate resolution to advise the president not to agree to climate provisions that did not require developing countries to take on obligations similar to those of the US during the same time frame. President Clinton signed the Kyoto Protocol despite this admonition, but never submitted the treaty to the Senate. President Bush “unsigned” the agreement, and made clear that the US would not be bound by any specific requirements. This decision has had both legal and political implications far beyond the agreement itself. This paper will describe the obligations of the United States under the UNFCCC, and how our performance has compared to other nations. |
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Legal and Policy Aspects of Greenhouse Gases
9:30 AM-12:10 PM, Monday, August 20, 2007 BCEC -- 260, Oral
Division of Chemistry & the Law |