Second Generation Climate Policies in the American States: Proliferation, Diffusion, and Regionalization

Abstract

early 15 years after its ratification of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and a decade after its negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol, the United States federal government has maintained its posture of climate policy disengagement. Congress has rejected a series of legislative proposals that would have established modest targets for containing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from major sources. The Bush Administration remains tightly scripted, endorsing further research and voluntary reductions, but nothing more. Even British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s push for some American flexibility on the issue, in conjunction with his leadership of the G8 nations and push for new climate initiatives, got a cold shoulder in Washington. N Recent Issues in Governance Studies “Red and Blue Nation? Causes, Consequences, and Correction of America’s Polarized Politics” (May 2006)