U.S. Senate Releases Climate Change Bill, And Other Recent Developments

Article by Patricia A. Koval, Dennis E. Mahony, Michael Pickersgill and Tyson Dyck

United States

Senate releases climate change bill

On October 1, 2009, the U.S. Senate released a draft energy and climate change bill – known as the Kerry-Boxer bill after its sponsors Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. The Kerry-Boxer bill is similar in many respects to the Waxman-Markey bill that was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in June, as described in Torys' Bulletin; however, Kerry-Boxer bill contains some notable differences. Although both bills would establish a cap-and-trade system for the country's largest industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, the Kerry-Boxer draft has a more aggressive short-term target. It would cap emissions from covered entities at 20% below 2005 levels by 2020, rather than by 17% as proposed in the Waxman-Markey bill. Both bills, however, use a long-term target of reducing GHG emissions 83% below 2005 levels by 2050.