9/18/92

Contact:

John Shlaes
Executive Director
Global Climate Coalition
202-637-3162

The Global Climate Coalition today endorsed prompt ratification by
the U.S. Senate of the United Nation's Framework Convention on Climate
Change.

Hearings on the treaty -- which was signed by President Bush in

Rio de Janeiro last June -- were held today by the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.
Testifying before the Committee, Michael Baroody, chairman of the
Global Climate Coalition said, "The Framework Convention on Climate Change
affirms several important principles that we consider essential to a sound
approach to the climate change issue and we support the prompt
ratification of this treaty."
While the Coalition endorses Senate ratification of the Treaty,
Baroody emphasized, "We are deeply concerned about how the Convention will
be interpreted and implemented."

He warned that measures to sharply

reduce greenhouse gas emissions would impose massive costs on the United
States economy which already spenaL more than Slli billion annually on
environmental protection.
Baroody noted that studies of capping carbon dioxide at 20 percent
below 1990 levels have indicated that GNP would fall by more than $95

 billion annually and that 600,000 jobs per year would be lost.
In calling for Treaty ratification, Baroody listed several major
principles in the Convention which are supported by the Global Climate
Coalition:
NO TARGETS AND TIMETABLES
The Convention call upon the developed nations to exert their best
efforts to address emissions of greenhouse gases.

However, there is

clearly no binding commitment to_ackiesing_arbitrary emission reduction
targets and timetables.
ECONOMIC GROWTH
A strong and growing economy and a robust industrial sector are
prerequisites for addressing domestic and international environmental
challenges.
COMPREHENSIVE APPROACHES TO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Several industrialized countries have suggested that policies
address only carbon dioxide, and ignore methane and other greenhouse
gases.

To focus solely on carbon dioxide emissions is to ignore up to

have of the potential impact of greenhouse gas emissions.
SCIENCE MUST SERVE AS THE FOUNDATION FOR GLOBAL CLIMATE DECISIONS
Increasingly, new scientific evidence gives additional weight to
the theory that adverse climate change is not occurring.

As stated by the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1992: "there are many
uncertainties in our predictions, particularly with regard to the timing,
magnitude and regional patterns of climate change due to our incomplete
understanding..."

 .

Baroody urged that economic impact of developing nation's be
considered by policymakers during the debate on global climate change. He
noted that, "...even if greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and
the OECD nations were reduced by 50 percent, by the year 2030 greenhouse
gas emissions would by 250 percent higher than today, because of the
economic activity of the developing nations."
"If science ultimately concludes that adverse global climate
change is occurring," Baroody continued, "Appropriate action should
include reducing the rate of growth of emissions from developing nations
through the introduction of cost-effective technology, rather than
penalizing the economies of the United States and other developed
nations."
The Global Climate Coalition is an organization of some 50 trade
associations and corporations seeking business involvement in the
scientific and policy debates concerning global climate change. Coalition
members represent both energy-producing and energy-consuming sectors.