Climate Change and Environment

The United States is taking a leading role in addressing climate change by advancing an ever-expanding suite of measures. We have initiated a number of polices and partnerships that span a wide range of initiatives from reducing our emissions at home to developing transformational low-carbon technologies to improving observations systems that will help us better understand and address the possible impacts of climate change. Our efforts emphasize the importance of results-driven action both internationally and domestically. The world community must work collaboratively to slow, stop, and reverse greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a way that promotes sustainable economic growth, increases energy security, and helps nations deliver greater prosperity for their people. As we move from Bali to Poznan to Copenhagen, the United States will continue to engage constructively to contribute to an agreed outcome on a post-2012 arrangement that is both environmentally effective and economically sustainable.  (Source: Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs/ US Department of State)

Documents and Speeches

• The New Climate Negotiations: Ambition, Differentiation and Flexibility. Remarks by Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change. World Future Energy Summit, Abu Dhabi. January 15, 2013.
• UN Climate Talks and Power Politics (pdf/1MB), Testimony by Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, May 25 2011
• Announcement: 2011 is the International Year of Forests, Remarks by Daniel A. Reifsnyder, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs/ U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., April 12, 2011
• Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future, The White House, March 30, 2011
  • Remarks by the President on America's Energy Security (Video)
  • Download the Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future (pdf)
• Remarks on World Water Day, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, The World Bank, Washington, D.C., March 22, 2011
• USG Water Policy Brief, Fact Sheet, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs/ U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., March 4, 2011
• The United States Joins the International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA, Media Note, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs/ U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., March 4, 2011
• U.S. Global Climate Change Policy: Evolving Views on Cost, Competitiveness, and Comprehensiveness (pdf/215kb), CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service/Library of Congress, February 24, 2011
• A U.S.-Centric Chronology of the International Climate Change Negotiations (pdf/238kb), CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service/Library of Congress, February 8, 2011
• The Greening Diplomacy Initiative: Leading by Example, Fact Sheet, U.S. Department of State, February 4, 2011
• United States Global Engagement on Climate Change and Public Health, Fact Sheet, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs/ U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C., January 5, 2011
• Annual Energy Outlook 2011 Early Release Report, Energy Information Administration/U.S. Department of Energy, December 16, 2010
• Briefing on the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Remarks by Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, Washington, D.C., December 14, 2010
• The Cancun Agreements, Press Statement, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, Washington, D.C., December 11, 2010
• U.S. Statement at COP-16, Press Statement by Todd Stern, Special Envoy for Climate Change, 16th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Cancun, Mexico, December 9, 2010
• International Financing of Responses to Climate Change (pdf/294kb), CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service/Library of Congress, November 23, 2010
• International Climate Change: A Negotiations Side-by-Side (pdf/249kb), CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service/Library of Congress, November 18, 2010
• Environmental Laws: Summaries of Major Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (pdf/852kb), CRS Report for Congress, Congressional Research Service/Library of Congress, October 10, 2010
• U.S. Climate Action Report 2010 - Fifth National Communication of the United States of America Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, U.S. Department of State, June 2010