The Byrd–Hagel Resolution was a

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Resolution passed unanimously with a vote of 95–0 on 25 July 1997, sponsored by Senators

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( ; born October 4, 1946)Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...

. The resolution stated that the US should not sign a climate treaty that would 'mandate new commitments to limit or reduce

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

for the Annex I Parties, unless ... t.. also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties within the same compliance period', or would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States. This effectively prohibited the US from ratifying the

Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is oc ...

Impact

Despite the unanimous passage of the Byrd–Hagel resolution, U.N. Ambassador

Peter Burleigh Albert Peter Burleigh (born March 7, 1942) is an American diplomat who worked as a Foreign Service Officer and joined the American Academy of Diplomacy. Early life and education Burleigh was born on March 7, 1942, in Los Angeles, California. He g ...

signed the

on behalf of the

Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...

on November 12 1998. However the

ultimately withheld the treaty from acquiring Senate approval due to potential political backlash and disapproval. At the outset of the Bush administration, Senators

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( ; born October 4, 1946)Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the Conservatism in the United States, conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the ...

Larry Craig Lawrence Edwin Craig (born July 20, 1945) is an American retired politician from the state of Idaho. A Republican, Craig represented Idaho in the United States Senate from 1991 to 2009 and represented Idaho's 1st District in the U.S. House of ...

, and

Pat Roberts Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of R ...

wrote a letter to President George W. Bush seeking to identify his stance on the

and climate change policy. In a letter dated March 13, 2001, President Bush responded "I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centers such as China and India, from compliance, and would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy. The Senate's vote, 95-0, shows that there is a clear consensus that the Kyoto Protocol is an unfair and ineffective means of addressing global climate change concerns." During the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

, the

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. pursued climate policies such as the

Copenhagen Accord The Copenhagen Accord is a document which delegates at the 15th session of the Conference of Parties ( COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed to "take note of" at the final plenary on 18 December 2009. The Acco ...

and

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

in advocating for more comprehensive environmental reform and to allow nations to self determine their own emission based commitments. In a 2015

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

article, former U.S. Secretary of Defense

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( ; born October 4, 1946)

Related legislation

H.Res.211 was a

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Resolution that was introduced with the support of 102 cosponsors on July 31, 1997. H.Res.211 maintained similar language to the Byrd–Hagel Resolution incurring that the

should "(1) mandate new commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the Annex 1 Parties, unless the protocol or other agreement also mandates new specific scheduled commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Developing Country Parties within the same compliance period; or (2) result in serious harm to the U.S. economy." Despite the initial popularity of the resolution it ultimately was referred to the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade where no subsequent action took place.

Notes

Climate change policy in the United States 1997 in the environment Robert Byrd 105th United States Congress United States federal energy legislation {{US-fed-statute-stub