IV
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. RES. 211
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the conditions
for the United States becoming a signatory to any international agree-
ment on greenhouse gas emissions under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 31, 1997
Mr. KNOLLENBERG submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on International Relations
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the conditions for the United States becoming a
signatory to any international agreement on greenhouse
gas emissions under the United Nations Framework Con-
vention on Climate Change.
Whereas the United Nations Framework Convention on Cli-
mate Change (in this resolution referred to as the ‘‘Con-
vention’’), adopted in May 1992, entered into force in
1994 and is not yet fully implemented;
Whereas the Convention, intended to address climate change
on a global basis, identifies the former Soviet Union and
the countries of Eastern Europe and the Organization
For Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
including the United States, as ‘‘Annex I Parties’’, and
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the remaining 129 countries, including China, Mexico,
India, Brazil, and South Korea, as ‘‘Developing Country
Parties’’;
Whereas in April 1995, the Convention’s ‘‘Conference of the
Parties’’ adopted the so-called ‘‘Berlin Mandate’’;
Whereas the ‘‘Berlin Mandate’’ calls for the adoption, as soon
as December 1997, in Kyoto, Japan, of a protocol or an-
other legal instrument that strengthens commitments to
limit greenhouse gas emissions by Annex I Parties for the
post-2000 period and establishes a negotiation process
called the ‘‘Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate’’;
Whereas the ‘‘Berlin Mandate’’ specifically exempts all Devel-
oping Country Parties from any new commitments in
such negotiation process for the post-2000 period;
Whereas although the Convention, approved by the United
States Senate, called on all signatory parties to adopt
policies and programs aimed at limiting their greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions, in July 1996 the Undersecretary
of State for Global Affairs called for the first time for
‘‘legally binding’’ emission limitation targets and time-
tables for Annex I Parties, a position reiterated by the
Secretary of State in testimony before the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate on January 8, 1997;
Whereas greenhouse gas emissions of Developing Country
Parties are rapidly increasing and are expected to sur-
pass emissions of the United States and other OECD
countries as early as 2015;
Whereas the Department of State has declared that it is criti-
cal for the Parties to the Convention to include Develop-
ing Country Parties in the next steps for global action
and, therefore, has proposed that consideration of addi-
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tional steps to include limitations on Developing Country
Parties’ greenhouse gas emissions would not begin until
after a protocol or other legal instrument is adopted in
Kyoto, Japan in December 1997;
Whereas the exemption for Developing Country Parties is in-
consistent with the need for global action on climate
change and is environmentally flawed;
Whereas the House of Representatives strongly believes that
the proposals under negotiation, because of the disparity
of treatment between Annex I Parties and Developing
Countries and the level of required emission reductions,
could result in serious harm to the United States econ-
omy, including significant job loss, trade disadvantages,
increased energy and consumer costs, or any combination
thereof; and
Whereas it is desirable that a bipartisan group of Members
of the House of Representatives be appointed by the Ma-
jority and Minority Leaders of the House of Representa-
tives for the purpose of monitoring the status of negotia-
tions on Global Climate Change and reporting periodi-
cally to the House of Representatives on those negotia-
tions: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) the United States should not be a signatory
to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in Decem-
ber 1997, or thereafter, which would—