U.s. Policies Towards Climate Change - 2401 Words

U.S. policies towards climate change has continued to develop throughout the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and currently Barack Obama. In this paper I will focus specifically on Clinton. One of the Clinton administration’s main goals was to make the United States the global leader in protecting the environment. Throughout Clinton’s administration from 1993 to 2001, the ambitious goals of environmental protection had many highs and lows. The United States had to make decisions about how it would go about tackling climate change and what roles of other countries would play. There was opposition in congress about how the U.S. economy would fare with many of the ideas the Clinton administration was coming†¦show more content†¦As, arguably, the only global power at the time, the United States spearheaded the dialogue on climate change. At some points the United States has trouble convincing other nations to come on board. This ca n be seen in documents three and four, where Japan is having some trepidations over industrialized nations involvement in climate change versus developing nations. It can especially be seen in document three where they clearly have different perspectives on where they see climate change in the long term. Japan is also skeptical of many of the emission trading s the United States takes part in because they are not quite sure how it would work and what position they would play. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was particularly worried about China s role in this agreement also, they did not want to carry out strict reductions while China continued to pollute the air around them. In comparison, document nine also centers around the United States as it tries to get the most out of the present climate change agreement, by working with Ambassador Raul A Estrada-Oyuela. Documents three and four are more focused on the beginning of various climate change treaties the United States w as trying to conceive. While document 4 focuses on a climate agreement after Kyoto that would be in the United States best interest. Furthermore, Document one discusses the United States goals in reducing greenhouse emissions. It lays out how to achieve success in