Environment

Abstract

This chapter adopts a somewhat longer view than the others, because agreements on environmental protection have been affected less by the end of the Cold War than the other topics. The Kyoto Protocol of 11 December 1997 represented a rejection of U.S. preferences in environmental policy by an EU-led coalition, similar in effect to the MBT signed a few days before in Ottawa. The overall story here, however, is cloudier than with arms control. A different transatlantic divergence was apparent very early: through the Reagan administration, the United States was clearly more progressive in environmental standards than members of the EC. West Germany was the only large European (Economic) Community (EEC) member state to push for adoption of auto emissions standards similar to those in the United States. Along with Canada and the Nordic states (not then members of the EU), the United States led the way on restricting ozone-depleting chemicals in the Montreal Protocol of 1987. By the 1990s, however, their roles were dramatically reversed. While the United States remained active in protecting stratospheric ozone, the EU matched it in enthusiasm. The Union also promoted action at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to prevent climate change, which the United States was against. So while Oslo and Ottawa brought the arms control divergence into focus, Kyoto merely continued a well-known split.