Bilateral and Regional Partnerships

"I am today committing the United States of America to work within the United Nations framework and elsewhere to develop with our friends and allies and nations throughout the world an effective and science-based response to the issue of global warming."

— President George W. Bush
February 14, 2002

Today the United States is working with many nations from around the world to address climate change. Since June 2001, the United States has established bilateral climate partnerships with 14 countries and regional organizations that, together with the United States, account for almost 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Partnerships have been developed with Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama), European Union, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, and South Africa, and now encompass well over 200 individual activities. Successful joint projects have been initiated in areas such as climate change research and science, climate observation systems, clean and advanced energy technologies, carbon capture, storage and sequestration and policy approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The United States also continues to assist developing countries in efforts to build the scientific and technological capacity needed to address climate change in a manner that is in keeping with their aspirations to achieve sustainable development.

Selected highlights from 2004:

Australia/New Zealand: Improved Climate Monitoring Systems for the Pacific — The United States is cooperating closely with Australia and New Zealand and other key partners in the Pacific Islands Region, to support the establishment and maintenance of a robust and sustainable Pacific climate monitoring and climate data management system. This cooperative effort is consistent with the development of a more comprehensive Pacific Climate Information System to meet the long-term climate monitoring needs of the region, and will ensure that all identified Global Climate Observing System stations in the region are sustained and operated in accordance with best practice.

China: Economic and Environmental Modeling in China — The United States works with a number of developing country partners to enhance in-country capacity to build and use reliable economic and environmental models as well as to contribute to the global exchange of technical information. The United States and China are engaged in ongoing cooperation on economic modeling, including analytic support, training and capacity building, and support for model adaptation and development, and have held joint economic modeling workshops annually for the past four years. The most recent workshop was held in Beijing in May 2004 and included a policy-makers session.

India: Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) — The United States assists a number of developing countries in evaluating clean energy options that can offer both local and global environmental benefits. In India, a team of IES experts analyzed clean energy options in Hyderabad and determined that a combination of transportation options, including improved bus service and traffic flow, showed the greatest potential for improved air quality and impact on public health as well as reduced GHG emissions. Working together with the Indian government, two IES educational outreach campaigns were subsequently launched in India.

Italy: Climate Science and Technology Partnership — The United States and Italy are working together to help the international community gain a better understanding of the global climate system. Italian and American scientists are substantially advancing our knowledge of atmospheric processes, including through a joint effort on the reconstruction of historic climate in the Mediterranean region while engineers and entrepreneurs are developing and bringing to market the clean energy technologies that are vital to powering the global economy and protecting the natural environment, through, for example, development of new vehicle fuel cells and hydrogen technologies.

Japan: Clean Energy Science and Technology Cooperation — The United States and Japan have one of the largest and most active clean energy science and technology cooperation programs in the world. Japanese and U.S. scientists and engineers work together, via public-private partnerships, to advance a broad portfolio of energy technologies. For example, Japan and the United States have cooperated in the development of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) technologies, advancement of the fourth generation of nuclear energy technologies, and fostering of an Asian Climate and Energy Dialogue.