Declaring the mandatory environmental regulations of the Kyoto Protocol combating global warming too expensive and a threat to U.S. jobs, President Bush unveiled his administration's voluntary "better alternative" -- the Clear Skies and Global Climate Change Initiatives.

In his address presenting the new initiatives, President Bush argued that the Kyoto Protocol's mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions would cost millions of American jobs and inhibit industry's ability to make long-term investments in developing clean energy. Instead, the president said his plan offered a "new approach."

"This new approach is based on this common-sense idea: that economic growth is key to environmental progress, because it is growth that provides the resources for investment in clean technologies," said the president.

According to a fact sheet issued by the White House, details of the initiatives announced by President Bush include:

Clear Skies Initiative
Reduces power plant emissions of the three worst air pollutants - nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and mercury - by 70 percent. The initiative will improve air quality using a proven, market-based approach.

• Cuts sulfur dioxide emissions by 73 percent, from current emissions of 11 million tons to a cap of 4.5 million tons in 2010, and 3 million tons in 2018.
• Cuts emissions of nitrogen oxides by 67 percent, from current emissions of 5 million tons to a cap of 2.1 million tons in 2008, and to 1.7 million tons in 2018.

"Clear Skies legislation will not only protect our environment, it will prolong the lives of thousands of Americans with asthma and other respiratory illnesses, as well as with those with heart disease," stated Bush.

President Bush said the Clear Skies goals would reached using a "market-based cap-and-trade approach" to reward industries that significantly reduced pollution. "Instead of the government telling utilities where and how to cut pollution, we will tell them when and how much to cut," he said. "We will give them a firm deadline and let them find the most innovative ways to meet it."

Global Climate Change Initiative
Commits America to an aggressive strategy to cut greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent over the next 10 years. The initiative also supports vital climate change research and ensures that America's workers and citizens of the developing world are not unfairly penalized.

• Reduce our rate of greenhouse gas emissions from an estimated 183 metric tons per million dollars of GDP in 2002, to 151 metric tons per million dollars of GDP in 2012. 
• Improve the U.S. greenhouse gas registry to enhance measurement accuracy, reliability and verifiability, working with and taking into account emerging domestic and international approaches.
• Create incentives for investing in new, cleaner technology and voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Direct the Secretary of Energy to recommend reforms to: (1) ensure that businesses that register voluntary reductions are not penalized under a future climate policy, and (2) give credit to companies that can show real emissions reductions.
• Carry out a continuing evaluation and review of global climate change with an eye toward the need for additional action if necessary in 2012.

In addition, the president called on Congress to approve an unprecedented level of funding for climate change-related research. The president's FY 2003 budget requests $4.5 billion for global climate change-related activities -- a $700 million increase -- including a five-year, $4.6 billion commitment to tax credits for renewable energy sources.

• Clear Skies Policy Book: Executive Summary
A detailed and illustrated summary of the Clear Skies Initiative from the White House.