ABSTRACT
Climate change policy is rightly seen as a major component of environmental policy, but its increasingly pertinent role in the wider context of economic policy is often overlooked. The debate on climate change policy, particularly with respect to the Kyoto Protocol, was heavily focused on the economic costs and feasibility of proposed GHG mitigation plans. In an attempt to assuage fears of overwhelming costs, the Kyoto Protocol was introduced with several mechanisms, which were designed to help lower the costs of implementation. Despite continued concerns about the potential high costs of implementation-from politicians, economists, and industry alike-the Protocol was ratified by, among others, the EU, Japan, Canada, Russia, and Ukraine, and it came into force in February 2005. The Bush Administration opted against ratification and has proceeded on its own path, spurred in large part by concerns about the purported high economic costs of implementing the Protocol.
