Months after refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol (see Physics Today 0031-9228 55 1 2002 26 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1457261 January 2002, page 26 ), the Bush administration has proposed an alternative: a voluntary 18% cut over the next 10 years in “greenhouse gas intensity” (based on the ratio of carbon dioxide emissions to the size of the US economy) instead of reducing overall US CO2 emissions by 7% through national and international regulations.
Both the Canadian and Australian governments have welcomed the Bush proposal, but elsewhere it has been roundly condemned. “The Kyoto Protocol, with its legally binding targets and timetables, remains the only workable basis for taking forward international action on climate change,” says Margaret Beckett, the UK’s environment secretary.
Critics, such as the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Arlington, Virginia, claim that the Bush proposal is just a business-as-usual scenario that will result in a 30% increase...