Wolfe worried openly that the Kyoto Protocol, which establishes a U.S. target of reducing global warming gas releases by 7 percent from 1990 levels, would prove too great a challenge. The reduction is to take place during the years 2008-2012.
Any reduction hinges on controlling the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The credits can be bought and sold, and those who exceed their reduction goals will be able to market their earned credits to those entities that stay above target levels. Of course, all this assumes that the overall targets are met. The primary vehicle for effecting this reduction, said Wolfe, is energy conservation and lowered usage in new and existing buildings. That would mean the next revision after November would come in 2004. Maybe in 2002, the twain shall meet.