Subject: Dobriansky briefing on Bush climate change policy...
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Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 09:16:47 -0700 (PDT)

The following are the main points from a briefing that Dr. Paula Dobriansky gave to National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) members this morning. Dobriansky is the Undersecretary for Global Affairs at the Department of State, which serves as the head delegate for the United States at the climate change negotiations.

The next set of negotiations are scheduled for late October in Morocco (COP-7) and the delegates are expected to adopt texts on rules for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, including the broad frameworks for the market-based mechanisms such as international emissions trading.  The U.S. has announced its opposition to the Protocol on grounds that it would harm economic interests and it does not include sufficient participation by developing countries.

Not much new to report, though she lowered expectations and distanced the Bush Administration from press reports after the Bonn negotiations in July that the U.S. would be developing an "alternative" to Kyoto.  She said several of the statements made by Powell and Rice were taken out of context and the term "alternative" implies to her a "grand design or strategic plan," which the U.S. is not currently developing.

She started off by affirming that the U.S. would not be coming back into the Kyoto Protocol - "plain and simple"

The U.S. is not seeking an amendment or other change that would bring it back into the Protocol

The cabinet-level review on climate change is on-going and the timing as well as the type of initiative that the Bush Administration will develop on climate change are still unknown.  She said that President Bush views climate change as a serious issue and is committed to doing something about it, but the issue is complex.  The Administration strives to offer a "balanced" approach -- no a cost-punitive approach.

The strategy for COP-7 will be similar to COP-6, the U.S. will engage in climate change convention issues and inject itself to protect U.S. interests, including non-tariff trade barriers and competitiveness issues.

Despite NAM's opposition to the Protocol, some NAM members encouraged the U.S. to re-engage on elements of the Kyoto Protocol to protect business interests, specifically on emissions trading and project-based mechanisms as well as  its inclusion of a basket of greenhouse gases.

She highlighted the importance of bilaterals and plans to meet with the Japanese Environment Minister today in Washington, focusing on partnerships on climate science among other topics, but not the Protocol.
 
The U.S. is developing an agenda for the Earth Summit in (Rio+10) to be held in South Africa next fall.  The U.S. will promote good governance, accountability and foreign investment as the main tools to achieve sustainable development.

I will attend a briefing with Dobriansky next Friday with the Business Council for Sustainable Energy -- an industry trade group for the efficiency, natural gas and renewables industries in the U.S.  The Council supports the adoption of a binding international treaty to address climate change, it will be interesting to see if her message changes for this audience.

Thanks.

Lisa Jacobson
Enron
Manager, Environmental Strategies
1775 Eye Street, NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006

Phone: +(202) 466-9176
Fax: +(202) 331-4717