In mid-February President Bush unveiled his administrations climate-change policy plan. This came a year after the Bush administration had rejected the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty under which industrialized nations would face binding targets for reducing the "greenhouse gases" that contribute to global climate change. The administration had been under intense pressure to take some action on the climate-policy front.

The plan commits the United States to an 18 percent reduction in emissions intensity - the ratio of emissions to real GDP - by a decade from now. The main instruments for achieving this reduction are tax credits to support the invention and adoption of energy-saving technologies and promote expanded carbon dioxide absorption by forestry and agriculture. It also requires expanded record-keeping of greenhouse gas emissions and urges voluntary reductions in emissions by the private sector.

In this policy brief I evaluate some key aspects of the Bush administrations plan.