The Regulatory Landscape of the USA
The United States has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The US has signed the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, allowing member countries to set their goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions on an individual basis. Additionally, State-level efforts to develop mandatory cap-and-trade programs for greenhouse gas emissions are currently being implemented.
A multi-state effort by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont is an initiative to develop a cap-and-trade program covering greenhouse gas emissions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which will begin capping emissions in 2009,will initially cover CO2 emissions from power plants and, later, RGGI will expand to monitor additional sources of CO2 emissions as well as other greenhouse gases.
The state of California is currently considering the feasibility of implementing a cap-and-trade program for CO2 emissions. In September 2006, California enacted legislation, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, that directs the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to establish a comprehensive program that would reduce the state's greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
On January 16th 2008, Ontario announced that it had joined the Climate Registry, which now has a membership of 39 US states, 2 Mexican states, and 6 Canadian Provinces, Native American tribes, businesses, and other organizations. Based on the initiatives set forth by the California Climate Action Registry (CCAR), the goal of the Climate Registry is to "...provide an accurate, complete, consistent, transparent, and verified set of greenhouse gas emissions data from reporting entities, supported by a robust accounting and verification infrastructure." In late December 2007, Senators Feinstein and Boxer, suggested that the EPA could use the Climate Registry as the model for a mandatory national greenhouse gas registry.
Right now, 740 US cities in 50 states -- representing over 76 million Americans -- support Kyoto, and are applying pressure on the federal government to ratify the protocol.