Bilateral and Regional Climate Partnerships

In June 2001 President Bush committed to develop effective and science-based responses to the challenge of global climate change with friends and allies throughout the world. The United States remains committed to working actively with other nations to promote cooperative and collaborative approaches to address this important issue. U.S. policy also recognizes that efforts by Americans and other nations to address climate change will only be sustainable if they also serve a larger purpose of fostering prosperity and well-being for citizens around the globe.

The United States works with both developed and developing country partners to address climate change. Since June 2001, the United States has established bilateral climate partnerships with 15 countries and regional organizations that, together with the United States, account for almost 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Partnerships have been developed with Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama), the European Union, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand,  South Korea, Russia, and South Africa. These partnerships now encompass well over 400 (474) individual activities. Successful joint projects are underway in areas such as climate change research and science, climate observation systems, clean and advanced energy technologies, carbon capture, storage and sequestration and policy approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Project highlights include:

	Australia: Improved Climate Monitoring Systems for the Pacific — The United States is cooperating closely with Australia, along with New Zealand and other partners in the Pacific Islands Region, to support the establishment and maintenance of a sustainable climate monitoring and climate data management system in the Pacific.
	Brazil: Productive Energy Program – Technical assistance and capacity building activities are being undertaken to help develop and implement energy policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the development of clean energy production (e.g., biomass, solar, wind, and small scale hydro) while reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for those currently lacking access to reliable energy.
	Canada: Energy R&D Cooperation – Agreements are in place to advance scientific and technical knowledge through cooperative research in fossil fuels, fuel cells, bioenergy, microgeneration and community energy systems.
	China: Economic and Environmental Modeling – China and the U.S. are engaged in ongoing cooperation on economic modeling, including analytic support and capacity building, and have held annual economic modeling workshops for the past four years.
	Central American Group: Improving Regional and National Capacity in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories – The United States is working with the seven Central American countries to build their capacity to improve the quality of their greenhouse gas inventories and to assist in the application of the IPCC Good Practice Guidance.
	The European Union: Research on Climate Change ­Impacts – The United States and the European Union cooperate on a wide range of projects to improve climate change science and research ranging from assessing and forecasting impacts of climate change through models to assessing marine carbon sources and cycles.
	Germany: Collaborating on Clean Energy and Development – The United States and Germany are identifying clean energy solutions such as renewable energy and clean coal technology to help achieve economic development while also minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases.
	India: Integrated Environmental Strategies (IES) — The United States assists a number of developing countries in evaluating clean energy options that offer environmental benefits. In India, IES experts analyzed clean energy options in Hyderabad.
	Italy: Climate Science and Technology Partnership — The United States and Italy are working together to help the international community gain a better understanding of the global climate system. Italian and American experts are substantially advancing our knowledge of atmospheric processes, including through a joint effort on the reconstruction of historic climate in the Mediterranean region.
	Japan: Clean Energy Science and Technology Cooperation — The United States and Japan have one of the largest clean energy science and technology cooperation programs in the world. Cooperative efforts have included the development of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) technologies, advancement of the fourth generation of nuclear energy technologies, and fostering of an Asian Climate and Energy Dialogue.
	South Korea: Asian Climate and Energy Dialogue — The United States and South Korea, together with Australia and Japan, co-sponsored a combined APEC Business and Climate Change and 2nd Asia Region Climate and Energy Workshop in Seoul, South Korea. The first workshop focused on integration of climate change considerations into long-term business and economic strategies. The second workshop sought to establish an interactive dialogue among climate and energy decision makers from the Asia-Pacific region.
	Mexico: Capacity Building and Methane Recovery — The United States and Mexico have a long history of bilateral collaboration in the area of capacity building and landfill gas-to-energy production that continues to grow. U.S. capacity building projects facilitated Mexico’s latest inventory and Mexico remains an important partner in Methane to Markets.
	New Zealand: Improved Climate Monitoring Systems for the Pacific — The United States is cooperating closely with New Zealand, along with Australia and other partners in the Pacific Islands Region, to support the establishment and maintenance of a sustainable climate monitoring and climate data management system in the Pacific.
	Russia: Research and Observations on Arctic Climate – The United States and Russia are engaged in a number of cooperative research projects to improve the monitoring of climatic changes in the Russian Arctic, including through the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) program and the International Polar Year.
	South Africa: Climate Change Capacity Building __ The United States and South Africa are cooperating to assist local governments in the design and implementation of strategies to reduce GHG emissions, for example, in the development of emission inventories, goals, local action plans, policies and measures, and monitoring results.