#Climate Change And American Policy PDF

Council on Foreign Relations This book provides a balanced and comprehensive account of the issues involved in climate change and the range of domestic and foreign policy options available to American policymakers.

Climate Change and American Foreign Policy examines the actors, institutions, and ideas shaping U.S. policy on climate change (global warming). The book begins by introducing the issue of climate change in the context of U.S. foreign policy, before critically evaluating U.S. policies and actions.

Climate change has long been a contentious issue, even before its official acknowledgment as a global threat in 1979. Government policies have varied widely, from Barack Obama’s dedication to environmentalism to George W. Bush’s tacit minimizing of the problem to Republican officials’ refusal to acknowledge the scientific evidence supporting anthropogenic climate change. Presented chronologically, this collection of important policy-shaping documents shows how the views of both advocates and deniers of climate change have developed over the past four decades.

Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world. The role played by the United States may determine our collective future. Newly availab.e in paperback, Climate change and American Foreign Policy examines the actors, institutions, and ideas shaping US policies and actions. Updated with a comprehensive preface by the editor, the book introduces the issue of climate change in the context of US foreign policy. It analyses policies and critically evaluates the US role. Chapters cover a full range of topics, including climate science, economics and regulation, domestic politics and nongovernmental organizations, the presidency and Congress, diplomacy and negotiations leading to international agreements on climate change, environmental regimes, and questions of responsibility and justice. The book concludes by looking at how international norms have influenced US climate change policies. Climate Change and American Foreign Policy will be of interest to everyone concerned about climate change, global environmental politics, US foreign policy, and international relations.

Now available in an updated 2016 edition, Climate Change and American Foreign Policy examines the actors, institutions, and ideas shaping U.S. policy on climate change (global warming). The book begins by introducing the issue of climate change in the context of U.S. foreign policy, before critically evaluating U.S. policies and actions. It then analyses the domestic and international politics of U.S. climate change policy, covering such issues as science, the presidency and Congress, nongovermental organizations, diplomacy and the international negotiations leading to the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. The book concludes by looking at the role of international norms in shaping U.S. climate change policy.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Potsdam, course: International Environmental Policy, 19 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Climate change is the extraordinary warming of the Earth from increased concentration of greenhouse gasses (GHG)1 and the climate consequences of that warming, which can be in many ways harmful to humans and the environment.2 In the 1980s climate change appeared on the agenda in international politics3 but only since the end of the Cold War the climate change debate has shifted into the focus of concern in foreign policy circles4 until it was swept away by an omnipresent War on Terror after September 11. The United States, as the world's largest polluter5 to climate change - US emissions of CO exceed those of all other countries6 plus on a per capita basis US CO -emissions are the highest off all countries7 - plays a major, if not the decisive, role in international environmental politics and the dialogue for a global strategy to address climate change. While the United States was one of the leading countries in terms of progressive domestic legislation and one of the driving forces behind international environmental agreements (e.g. dealing with the problem of ozone depletion culminating in the Montreal Protocol) 8, the US is now not only blocking the Kyoto Protocol, but also actively pressuring other undecided countries not to sign and ratify the Protocol. Paradoxically, American scientists have played a leading role in identifying the anthropogenic affect on global warming and its dangerous consequences, yet political commitment and leadership to address the climate change problem is very weak. American foreign policy especially with regards to climate change can only be explained by a myriad of factors, ranging from concerns for national interests and the influence of domestic politics, to the ability of exercising leadershi

Existing climate change governance regimes in the US and the EU contain complex mixtures of regulatory, market, voluntary, and research-based strategies. The EU has adopted an approach to climate change that is based on mandatory greenhouse gas emission reductions; it is grounded in 'hard' law measures and accompanied by 'soft' law measures at the regional and Member State level. In contrast, until recently, the US federal government has carefully avoided mandatory emission reduction obligations and focused instead on employing a variety of 'soft' measures to encourage - rather than mandate - greenhouse gas emission reductions in an economically sound, market-driven manner. These macro level differences are critical yet they mask equally important transatlantic policy convergences. The US and the EU are pivotal players in the development of the international climate change regime. How these two entities structure climate change laws and policies profoundly influences the shape and success of climate change laws and policies at multiple levels of governance. This book suggests that the overall structures and processes of climate change law and policy-making in the US and the EU are intricately linked to international policy-making and, thus, the long-term success of global efforts to address climate change. Accordingly, the book analyses the content and process of climate change law and policy-making in the US and the EU to reveal policy convergences and divergences, and to examine how these convergences and divergences impact the ability of the global community to structure a sustainable, effective and equitable long-term climate strategy.

The United States is often perceived as sceptical, if not hostile, to the need to address man-made climate change. However, a careful examination of the evidence reveals a number of policy actions designed to investigate, mitigate, and adapt to climate change have been implemented. Laws, regulatory action, and court rulings have led to advances in climate science, action to reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions and efforts to prepare for the potential consequences of climate change. In this important book Chris Bailey explains and details the challenges and achievements of US climate change policy from its origins to the present day.

Books about Global Climate Change

Climate Change and Foreign Policy: Case Studies from East to West and its companion volume, Environmental Change and Foreign Policy: Theory and Practice, examine and explain the role of foreign policy politics, processes and institutions in efforts to protect the environment and natural resources. They seek to highlight international efforts to address human-induced changes to the natural environment, analyze the actors and institutions that constrain and shape actions on environmental issues, show how environmental changes influence foreign policy processes, and critically assess environmental foreign policies. This book examines the problem of global climate change and assesses the manner in which governments and other actors have attempted to deal with it. It presents a series of in-depth international case studies on climate policy in Australia, Japan, China, Turkey, Hungary, Denmark, France, the European Union and the United States. The authors demonstrate how studying environmental foreign policy can help us to better understand how governments, businesses and civil society actors address—or fail to address—the critical problem climate change. This book will be of strong interest to scholars and students of environmental policy and politics, foreign policy, public policy, climate change and international relations.

As the world's largest polluter and its wealthiest country, the United States has a potentially enormous impact on international efforts to protect the environment. In this innovative and thought-provoking book, an international group of scholars examines how U.S. foreign policy affects and is affected by global environmental change. Covering three broad areas—national security and geopolitics, domestic and international politics, and national interests and international obligations—the contributors examine a host of key issues, including ozone depletion and climate change, biodiversity and whale hunting, environmental and energy security, and international trade. They also raise moral issues associated with the United States's obligations to the rest of humanity. Because the environment has become an ever-more pressing issue at the diplomatic level, this book is essential, timely reading for policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in environmental change and international relations.

Among global environmental issues, climate change has received the largest attention of national and global policy makers, researchers, industry, multilateral banks and NGOs. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental problems with unique characteristics. It is global, long-term (up to several centuries) and involves complex interactions between climatic, environmental, economic, political, institutional and technological pressures. It is of great significance to developing countries as all the available knowledge suggests that they, and particularly their poorer inhabitants, are highly vulnerable to climate impacts. The projected warming of 1. 4 to 5. 8° C by 2100 and the related changes in rainfall pattern, rise in sea-level and increased frequency of extreme events (such as drought, hurricanes and storms) are likely to threaten food security, increase fresh water scarcity, lead to decline in biodiversity, increase occurrence of vector-borne diseases, cause flooding of coastal settlements, etc. Recognizing the potential threat of severe disruptions, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was organized in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to begin to address ways to reduce these impacts, which led to the formulation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This Convention and the subsequent Kyoto Protocol recognize “the common but differentiated responsibility” of developing and industrialized countries in addressing climate change. Developing countries thus have a unique role to play in formulating a sound, reasoned, and well informed response to the threat of climate change.