The Daily Background

The Bush administration estimates that emissions by the United States of gases that contribute to global warming will grow nearly as fast through the next decade as they did the previous decade, according to a long-delayed report being completed for the United Nations.
[…]
Kristen A. Hellmer, a spokeswoman for the White House on environmental matters, said on Friday, “The Climate Action Report will show that the president’s portfolio of actions addressing climate change and his unparalleled financial commitments are working.”

… Gooooood. Emissions are not expected to decrease significantly! See? This is evidence that President Bush’s environmental policies are working! How much exactly is the change that the Bush Administration’s policies are making? From 1992 to 2002, emissions grew 11.6%. From 2002 to 2012, emissions are now expected to only grow 11.0%

0.6%. What a huge difference. Just remember, that’s evidence the President’s policies are working! I can feel the arctic ice shelves starting to grow again as we speak.

The report, which the Times says climate experts believe is “unacceptable given the rising evidence of risks from unabated global warming” was originally scheduled to be released almost two years ago. There’s no official reason why it’s been delayed so long.

The NYT does hint that one reason for the stalling might be the reaction to the last report in the series, released nearly 5 years ago:

The last such report, completed in 2002, put the administration in something of a bind because it listed many harmful or costly projected impacts from human-caused warming. Environmental groups used those findings to press President Bush to seek mandatory caps on greenhouse gases, while foes of such restrictions criticized the findings and criticized the administration for letting them stay in the document.

“Several environmental campaigners said there was no real distinction between Mr. Bush’s target and “business as usual,” adding that such mild steps were unacceptable given recent findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other research groups tying recent warming more firmly than ever to smokestack and tailpipe gases,” the Times continues.

“If you set the hurdle one inch above the ground you can’t fail to clear it,” one environmental expert told the Times.

The report will reiterate the scientific consensus that global climate change is being caused by human activity and call for greater cuts in emission levels.

Filed under: Environment Related, Z-TDB Blog