HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

143

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting the united states president to submit the kyoto protocol to the United states senate for ratification.

WHEREAS, there is evidence that the planet's climate is becoming warmer, with potentially catastrophic effects on coastal areas and global weather patterns; and

WHEREAS, many scientists suspect that a significant cause is a human-made increase in emissions of greenhouse gases, which trap heat inside the Earth's atmosphere; and

WHEREAS, negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were completed December 11, 1997, committing the industrialized nations to specified, legally binding reductions in emissions of six "greenhouse gases"; and

WHEREAS, the United States signed the Protocol on November 12, 1998, committing the United States to a target of reducing greenhouse gases by seven percent below 1990 levels during a "commitment period" between 2008-2012; and

WHEREAS, the major commitments in the treaty are emissions reductions, developing country responsibility and participation, and emissions trading and joint implementation; and

WHEREAS, President Bush withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001, saying that meeting the treaty's country-by-country targets would be too costly for the U.S. economy and that more scientific research is needed; and

WHEREAS, the Bush Administration has also expanded federally funded scientific research on climate change with an aim to resolve the "uncertainties" in scientific understanding of global warming; and

WHEREAS, in Europe, however, the debate over the science of climate change is essentially over and the emphasis is on finding ways to slow the rate of change and mitigate the impacts;

WHEREAS, United States electric utilities accounted for thirty-six percent of United States greenhouse gas emissions in 1997 and more than eight percent of the world's emissions; and

WHEREAS, Americans are expected to use twenty-seven percent more energy in 2020 than in 1998; and

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii, like Europe, is more interested in creating solutions to climate change and reducing emissions; and

WHEREAS, the State of Hawaii realizes its place, potential, and effect in the global environment; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, the Senate concurring, that the President is requested to submit the Kyoto Protocol to the United States Senate for ratification in an effort to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Kyoto Protocol