Message From The Co-Chairs

Kyle Danish and Katherine Silverthorne

With a new year, we would like to re-introduce you to the ABA Committee on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. We expect a number of new developments in climate change policy over the coming year and hope that the committee can be your source of up-to-the-moment information.

In 2003, the Committee will be following a range of developments:

• At the international level, the Kyoto Protocol is projected to enter into force in 2003. This will have major implications for U.S. companies with facilities in Kyoto countries. The committee will follow developments with treaty rules as well as national and regional law implementing the Protocol in key Kyoto Parties.
• The Bush administration is taking steps to implement the President’s voluntary climate change program, including the development of a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting program and “business challenges” for particular sectors. The establishment of a voluntary reporting program raises complex legal issues.

States are becoming very active on the climate issue. California has passed a landmark law directing the CA Air Resources Board to promulgate regulations to reduce GHG emissions from motor vehicles. Multiple states are creating voluntary GHG reporting programs.

• The 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) called attention to the need for sustainable development policies at all levels of government in the U.S. How local, state, and federal institutions respond to the mandates coming out of the WSSD will bear watching.
• Increasingly, U.S. companies are announcing voluntary emission reduction targets. A number of firms are participating in the emerging international greenhouse gas emissions trading market. With the development of federal and state voluntary emissions reporting programs, companies will be facing pressure to participate.

As co-chairs, our goal is to make the Committee a premier source of information and forum for discussion on climate change and sustainable development issues. The Committee works toward these ends through a number of means including:

• A newsletter that is widely-read not only by ABA members but also by policy-makers and advocates – please consider contributing an article;
• Teleconferences, brown bags, and other programs;
• A list serve to alert members about important policy developments and just-released documents;
• Occasional special reports and sponsored stakeholder dialogues;
• Public service and educational initiatives; and
• An active Web page with links to valuable sources of climate change information. See http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/climatechange/.

We invite you to become an active member of the Committee.

Kyle Danish is an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Van Ness Feldman, P.C. Katherine Silverthorne is deputy director of the Climate Change Program at World Wildlife Fund.