Posted on December, 04 2003

Milan, Italy - The Bush Administration is faking action on climate protection to mislead governments meeting in Milan into thinking that there is a credible alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, environmental groups in the Climate Action Network said today. A new report, FAKING ACTION – The Truth behind US Global Warming Policy, uncovers all the misleading claims in the Bush Administration’s plan and details their endless attacks on responsible climate action. The Administration’s domestic policy is a voluntary goal that will allow emissions to increase, not decrease. The bottom line is that US emissions will be 32 per cent above 1990 levels by 2012, instead of the target of 7 per cent below included in the Kyoto Protocol for the US. "The Bush Administration is trying to market the same inadequate approach here at the UNFCCC COP9 in Milan that they have taken at home, strongly opposing any binding emissions targets and claiming to have a better approach," said Jeff Fiedler, climate policy specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "In reality global emissions will continue to increase while we wait 20 years or more for their plan to kick in." "Countries around the world must not take the Bush Administration seriously on global warming," said Jennifer Morgan, director of WWF’s Climate Change Programme. "It is a waste of time to constructively engage with this Administration and countries should not be tricked by their smooth rhetoric." Bush’s top ten ways to fake it on global warming are: 1. US withdraws from Kyoto Protocol — the Bush Administration has never provided any analysis to substantiate its claim that the Kyoto Protocol would seriously harm the US economy, even though this was one of their main reasons for withdrawing. 2. Focus on international cooperation on research, rather than emission reductions — science and technology research cooperation with other countries should complement, not replace, binding US emission reduction commitments. 3. Voluntary domestic goal that will rapidly increase emissions — US emissions will rise 32 per cent above 1990 levels by 2012. The voluntary 18 per cent improvement in emissions intensity is the projected trend in the absence of any new policies. 4. Voluntary business commitments don’t add up — the voluntary goal for US electricity generation companies allows emissions to increase 13 to 16 per cent in 10 years, faster than US government forecasts of emissions growth. 5. Bush Administration opposes mandatory national emissions cap — in strongly opposing the recent Climate Stewardship Act vote in the US Senate (to cap US emissions at 2000 levels in 2012), the White House exaggerated cost impacts and said it was unfair that some other countries don’t have mandatory emission targets. 6. Bush Administration opposes mandatory power plant emissions cap — shortly after coming into office, the White House reversed a campaign promise to put CO2 limits on power and instead supported legislation that ignores global warming and weakens the existing clean air law. 7. Bush Administration opposes mandatory emissions reporting — The White House even opposes mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting for US companies. 8. Energy policy subsidizes fossil fuel expansion — the Bush Administration has supported national energy legislation that provides dirty energy sources with six times more subsidies than renewable energy and energy efficiency. Meanwhile, they weakened a major new energy efficiency standard for air conditioners. 9. Obscuring the scientific case for action — the Bush Administration claims to support sound science, but clouds the issue by exaggerating uncertainties and undermining the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) finding that anthropogenic emissions are the main cause of global warming. 10. Technology research delays action and ignores renewables and efficiency — research on clean coal, carbon sequestration, and hydrogen will not yield results for decades and directs funding away from renewable energy sources and efficiency that are available now. For further information: Jeff Fiedler Climate Policy Specialist, Natural Resources Defense Council Tel.: +1 202 359 6623 E-mail: jfiedler@nrdc.org Martin Hiller Communications Manager, WWF Climate Change Programme Tel.: +41 79 347 2256 E-mail: mhiller@wwfint.org