Carbon dioxide is one of the key greenhouse gases blamed for causing global warming.
In addition, credit for currently projected sequestration beyond that level would also be reduced by two-thirds. The U.S. State Department, in a report to the United Nations, calculated that about 310 million metric tons of carbon dioxide is absorbed annually in U.S. managed forests. Under the latest proposal, the United States would get a total credit from forest sequestration of only about 125 million metric tons. Under the Kyoto Protocol, which has not yet been ratified, the United States has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels during the period 2008 to 2012. This would amount to at least 600 million metric tons of annual carbon emission reductions beginning in 2008 under the treaty.