Kyoto failed because it imposed emissions reduction targets only on developed countries, giving developing nations like China, India and Brazil a free pass.
The figure below also shows how costs under the four strategies are affected by the need to shut down existing generating capacity in order to meet newly imposed emissions caps.
European officials have been pressing hardest for some form of binding treaty modeled on the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, which the United States refused to ratify because, American officials said, it imposed emissions limits on developed nations while demanding nothing of rapidly growing economies like China and India.
The central piece of the CPP imposes emission reduction obligations on existing power plants — those that are in operation and spewing GHGs into the atmosphere.
Despite policy makers' efforts to promote alternative energy, impose emission controls on cars, and enforce tough energy-efficiency standards for buildings, the relentlessly rising curve of CO2 output does not show the slightest downward turn.
A United States diplomat warned the European Commission against adopting rules that would impose emission controls on all flights landing at European airports, a signal that Washington may take legal action if the measure became law.
Even China is pushing to shut down inefficient coal-burning plants by imposing emissions charges.
It's almost certainly better to do what we actually do, which is impose emissions standards on all cars.
The Environmental Protection Agency is weighing whether to impose emissions limits on new and existing coal-burning power plants, but that project, which would be hugely controversial, is on the shelf for now as the E.P.A. studies the costs and benefits.
The reform-minded Congress of 1975, animated by the activist spirit of the so-called "Watergate class" of new, young Democratic members, had passed a law imposing emissions and fuel-efficiency standards on automobiles.
Given little credence by the White House despite large expenditures on lobbying and longstanding ties to administration officials, these companies are shifting their focus to Congress, where several bills that would impose emissions restrictions are being debated or prepared.
