Global Warming Negotiations Heat Up.
President George W. Bush withdrew the Kyoto Protocol from consideration in 2001. Had the United States ratified the treaty, the country would have been committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 7% below its 1990 level. According to Dr. Harlan Watson, who is the U.S. Senior Climate Negotiator in Buenos Aires, the United States will emit about 16% more greenhouse gases in 2010 than it did in 1990. So in order to meet the Kyoto targets, the United States would have to cut its projected emissions by 23% over the next 6 to 8 years. The only way to achieve such reductions would require steep cuts in energy use. There are a number of estimates of the costs of implementing the Kyoto Protocol. Yale University economist William Nordhaus has calculated that it would cost $716 billion, and that the United States would bear two-thirds of the global costs. In any case, even if Kyoto Protocol reductions are achieved, those cuts in greenhouse gases would reduce the projected amount of warming by no more than 0.2 degrees Celsius in 2050.