Overview. This portion of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 represents partial fulfillment of the U.S. obligations under the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. It provides for the Secretary of Energy to submit a report to Congress on the implications of U.S. compliance with the Convention. It also provides for: inclusion of a least-cost strategy in the National Energy Plan; establishment of a Director of Climate Protection within the Department of Energy; a national inventory of greenhouse gases; establishment of an innovative environmental technology transfer program; establishment of a Global Climate Change Response Fund.
Report. The Secretary of Energy (Secretary) was directed to submit a report to the Congress by October 24, 1994 that includes an assessment of: the potential economic, energy, social, environmental and competitive implications of implementing policies to enable the U.S. to comply with obligations under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change or subsequent international agreements; the feasibility and economic, energy, social, environmental and competitive implications, including implications for jobs, of stabilizing the generation of greenhouse gases in the U.S. by the year 2005; the feasibility of reducing the generation of greenhouse gases; the feasibility and economic, energy, social, environmental and competitive implications, including implications for jobs, of achieving a 20 percent reduction from 1988 levels in the generation of carbon dioxide by the year 2005 as recommended by the 1988 Toronto Scientific World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere. § 13381.
Least-Cost Energy Strategy. Each National Energy Policy Plan the President submits to Congress under 42 U.S.C. § 7321 shall include a least-cost energy strategy prepared by the Secretary, which shall take into consideration economic, energy, social, environmental and competitive costs and benefits. Such strategy shall be designed to achieve at least-cost to the nation: federal energy production, utilization and energy conservation priorities; the stabilization and eventual reduction in the generation of greenhouse gases; an increase in the efficiency of the nation's total energy use by 30 percent over 1988 levels by the year 2010; an increase in the percentage of energy derived from renewable resources by 75 percent over 1988 levels by the year 2005; a reduction in the nation's oil consumption from the 1990 level of approximately 40 percent of total energy use to 35 percent by the year 2005.
The least-cost strategy shall identify federal priorities, including policies that: implement standards for more efficient use of fossil fuels; increase the energy efficiency of existing technologies; encourage technologies, including clean coal technologies, that generate lower levels of greenhouse gases. § 13382.
Director of Climate Protection. The Secretary shall establish, within the Department of Energy, a Director of Climate Protection, who shall: serve as the Secretary's representative for interagency and multilateral policy discussions of global climate change, including the activities of the Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences as established by the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-606) and the Policy Coordinating Committee Working Group on Climate Change; monitor domestic and international policies for their effects on the generation of greenhouse gases; have the authority to participate in the planning activities of relevant Department of Energy programs. § 13383.
Report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions. By May 1994, the Secretary was to transmit a report to Congress containing a comparative assessment of alternative policy mechanisms for reducing the generation of greenhouse gases. The Secretary also was directed to develop an inventory of the national aggregate emissions of each greenhouse gas for each year, to be updated annually. By May, 1994, the Secretary was to issue guidelines for the voluntary collection and reporting of information on sources of greenhouse gases. §§ 13384 and 13385.
Energy Technology Transfer. The Secretary, through the Trade Promotion Coordinating Council, shall develop policies and programs to encourage the export and promotion of domestic energy resource technologies, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean coal technologies, to developing countries. § 13386.
The Secretary, through the Agency for International Development (AID), and in consultation with the interagency working group established under 42 U.S.C. § 6276 to make recommendations to coordinate federal programs affecting exports of renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services, shall establish a technology transfer program. The purposes of the program include encouraging the export of U.S. technologies to countries needing developmentally sound facilities to provide energy derived from technologies that substantially reduce environmental pollutants, including greenhouse gases, and reducing the U.S. balance of trade deficit through the export of U.S. energy technologies and technological expertise. The Secretary, through AID, shall establish financial mechanisms to increase the participation of U.S. firms in energy projects that substantially reduce environmental pollutants, including greenhouse gases, in foreign countries and provide financial assistance to support projects. Activities are to be coordinated with the U.S.-Asia Environmental Partnership. The Secretary and the Administrator of the Agency for International Development shall report annually to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and appropriate House committees on the progress being made to introduce innovative energy technologies that substantially reduce environmental pollutants, including greenhouse gases, into foreign countries. § 13387.
Global Climate Change Response Fund. The Secretary of the Treasury shall establish a Global Climate Change Response Fund to act as a mechanism for U.S. contributions to assist global efforts in mitigating and adapting to global climate change. No deposits shall be made to the Fund until the U.S. has ratified the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. § 13388.
Editor's Note. As of October, 1995, the U.S. had not yet ratified the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
