Comparing Domestic and International Provisions in Energy-Climate Legislation
Provisions in any legislation can be confusing. Trying to compare similar provisions across different bills can compound the confusion. To help make things more clear, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change has released two additional side-by-side comparison charts, one on domestic offset provisions, and the other on international offset provisions, of this Congress’ energy and climate legislation.
The following table compares the domestic offset provisions detailed in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Waxman-Markey), the Clean Energy Partnerships Act of 2009 (Stabenow), and the American Power Act (Kerry-Lieberman). While the bills are similar in program category and design element, the bills build on each other, starting with the American Clean Energy and Security Act and ending with the American Power Act.
The table above compares the international provisions detailed in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Waxman-Markey), the International Climate Change Investment Act (Kerry), and the American Power Act (Kerry-Lieberman). The three bills are in similar in that they: establish a International Climate Change Adaptation Program to provide assistance to the most vulnerable developing countries, provide REDD support with the goal of achieving supplement reductions of at last 720 million tons in 2020 and at least 6 billion tons cumulately by 2025/6. However, the bills differ some design elements. Unlike Waxman-Markey and Kerry-Lieberman, Kerry does not address: competitiveness and emissions leakage, linking of emission trading systems, international offsets, and does not specify source or scale of funding.