The American environmental industry also has a lot to offer in the way of pollution abatement technologies. Notwithstanding recent events in Seattle, it is our hope that the members of the World Trade Organization will agree to do away with all tariffs on trade in these technologies. We and the other parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol recently finished our fifth round of negotiations toward turning that agreement into a fully-ratified and operative international treaty. This Fifth Conference of the Parties, in Bonn, was mostly a procedural meeting, where the outstanding substantive issues were not on the table. One of those substantive issues on which a lot of work remains to be done is the question of meaningful participation by developing countries in a global effort to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause, or at least contribute to, global warming.
Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution.
The United States is the world's largest emitter of these gases. We are responsible for nearly one-fourth of the global annual total. So clearly, we must take the lead in reducing emissions. But the second largest greenhouse gas producer is China. And under current projections, China will overtake us as the most prolific within a couple of decades.