United States strategy for mitigating global climate change

Abstract

Beginning with the adoption of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) in 1992, which called for industrialized countries to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels in 2000, political pressures have been increasing to reduce GHG emissions. The Berlin Conference of the Parties (COP1) in March, 1995, increased this pressure for countries to commit to post-2000 emission reduction goals. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd Until July, 1996, the primary focus of U.S. climate change policy was moderate, near-term reductions for the year 2000. The U.S. Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), announced in October, 1993, began a comprehensive set of voluntary programs aimed at reducing these emissions. The most successful of these voluntary programs is the Climate Challenge program, a cooperative program between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the electric utilities, covering over 60 percent of the industry. In July, 1996, the U.S. position changed and urged that future negotiations on emission reductions focus on a realistic, verifiable, and binding medium term (2010-2020) emissions target. At the same time, the U.S. endorsed the Geneva Declaration, which endorses the science findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and permits flexibility for individual countries to design the most cost-effective approaches to emission reductions. Issues of availability, cost, and timing dictate that fossil fuel use will continue to drive domestic and international societies for many years. It follows that efforts to reduce GHG emissions will have to consider the worldwide energy requirements, the efficiency and means of meeting those requirements, and/or associated GHG emissions. Within DOE, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy has important responsibilities for meeting these twin challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring cost-effective and abundant supplies of fossil energy. This paper explores some of DOE's fossil-related technology and climate-related activities.