Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 14 • Number 17 • 12th May 2010

US Senators Unveil Climate Bill with ‘Carbon Tariff’ Provision

Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say

United States Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced new draft climate legislation on Wednesday, ten months after the House of Representatives passed its own bill to cut US emissions of greenhouse gases.

Senators Kerry, a Democrat, and Lieberman, an Independent, are the chief sponsors of the nearly 1,000-page piece of legislation, which aims to bolster the US contribution to addressing climate change while spurring economic growth and creating jobs at home. The bill is in line with the United States’ official international position to cut its emissions of carbon dioxide to 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020. (An official 21-page summary of the bill is available here.)

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican and an initial sponsor of the bill, had worked closely with Kerry and Lieberman to craft legislation that would appeal across party lines. But Graham split with the other two senators last month after Congressional Democrats announced that immigration reform would take priority over new climate legislation. His withdrawal delayed the bill’s release, which was scheduled for 26 April.

Critical for trade observers, the Kerry-Lieberman bill includes language that would allow “border measures” - also known as carbon tariffs - on imports from countries that have not enacted strict regulations on emissions of greenhouse gases.

The US House of Representatives passed its own draft climate legislation last summer. That bill also included a measure that would impose a form of “carbon adjustment” at the border, although the provision would not take effect until 2014.

Look for further analysis of the bill in next week’s issue of Bridges Weekly.

ICTSD reporting; “After long wait, Senate takes up climate,” AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE, 12 May 2010; “Kerry, Lieberman to end the suspense with climate bill rollout today,” CLIMATEWIRE, 12 May 2010.