Environmental policies
Main article: Domestic policy of the George W. Bush administration § Environment
Upon taking office in 2001, Bush stated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the UN Convention on Climate Change which seeks to impose mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, citing that the treaty exempted 80% of the world's population[157] and would have cost tens of billions of dollars per year.[158] He also cited that the Senate had voted 95–0 in 1997 on a resolution expressing its disapproval of the protocol.
President Bush delivering a statement on energy, urging Congress to end offshore oil drill ban, June 18, 2008
In May 2001, Bush signed an executive order to create an inter-agency task force to streamline energy projects,[159] and later signed two other executive orders to tackle environmental issues.[160]
In 2002, Bush announced the Clear Skies Act of 2003,[161] aimed at amending the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution through the use of emissions trading programs. Many experts argued that this legislation would have weakened the original legislation by allowing higher emission rates of pollutants than were previously legal.[162] The initiative was introduced to Congress, but failed to make it out of committee.
Bush has said that he believes that global warming is real[163] and has noted that it is a serious problem, but he asserted there is a "debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused".[164] The Bush Administration's stance on global warming remained controversial in the scientific and environmental communities. Critics have alleged that the administration[165] misinformed the public and did not do enough to reduce carbon emissions and deter global warming.