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Abstract:
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"Although many important environmental issues face President Obama, none is as critical or complex as climate change. Climate change will dominate the early environmental policies of the Obama Administration, not only because of its vital importance, but also because of a confluence of national and international politics. First, the Bush Administration took a number of administrative actions in its last year aimed at curtailing domestic response to climate change, and the Obama Administration will look to reverse them or minimize their impacts. Even without new legislation, President Obama will have many opportunities to address climate change under existing statutes and within existing agency mandates. Secondly, the newly strengthened Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress has made climate change a priority and has been holding hearings on a new comprehensive climate change bill. Finally, international negotiations on the post-Kyoto climate regime are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009. Administratively, legislatively, and internationally, the Obama Administration will have unprecedented opportunities to develop a comprehensive, long-term strategy for responding to climate change. This article is limited to a discussion of the international dimensions of climate change policy facing the new Administration, although the international dimensions will undoubtedly be shaped substantially by progress (or the lack of it) on the domestic administrative and legislative fronts."
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