Sea Change: US Climate Policy Prospects Under the Obama Administration

At the end of 2009, governments from all countries of the world will gather in Copenhagen and try to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. One weakness of the Kyoto Protocol is that the largest greenhouse gas contributor, the USA, has not ratified the agreement. However, the stance of the former US administration on climate policy now seems to be history. President Barack Obama has given clear signals that the USA is now ready to engage in a dramatically new way in international efforts to fight climate change.

The Commission asked Mikael Román and Marcus Carson at Stockholm Environment Institute to analyse economic and political developments in the USA with a focus on climate change.

Mikael Román and Marcus Carson are solely responsible for the analysis, proposals and opinions presented in the report.