The World Assembly,
Convinced that the preponderance of scientific evidence shows that some 'greenhouse gases', such as carbon dioxide and methane, allow energy through a planet's atmosphere at the visible and shortwave infrared wavelengths primarily generated by stars, while reflecting energy at longwave thermal wavelengths radiated by a planet, thus creating a net warming effect for that planet's atmosphere,
Acknowledging that within some member nations, the concept of global warming due to non-natural greenhouse gas emissions remains controversial,
Concerned over the many adverse impacts scientific consensus has found sudden and excess warming due to emissions of greenhouse gasses to have directly or indirectly on ecosystems and populations, including disruption and temporal shifting of seasonal cycles at a rate faster than many organisms can adapt, more extreme natural disasters, sea level rise, ocean acidification, crop failures, and desertification,
Aware that many nations' economies are built around fossil fuels and desiring to seek a solution that is minimally disruptive while addressing this pressing problem,
Concluding that the most efficient and cheapest regulatory framework to abate greenhouse gasses is one that caps the total amount of emissions, and divides up credits for the permissible emissions among nations, while allowing the voluntary trading of emissions credits between nations,
Hereby, subject to any limits set by earlier resolutions that are still in force:
- Charges World Assembly Scientific Programme's (WASP) Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) to regulate emissions of greenhouse gasses in the following manner:
- Set a total global annual target for the non-natural release of greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, based on current global emissions, scientific climate models for the impact of the gasses, decay rate of the gasses, and the global economic impact of the cap;
- Distribute allowable emissions credits for each regulated greenhouse gas among member nations proportional to their total populations and present economic output, the global population, and the global cap;
- Establish preferred emissions levels for non-World Assembly nations also proportional to factors listed in b;
- Establish (i) punitive fees for emissions beyond the cap for member nations, and (ii) tariffs that all member nations shall enforce on the trade goods produced by non-member nations whose emissions exceed their preferred levels; the proceeds of both the fees and tariffs will first go to ACE's monitoring and enforcement efforts and any remaining monies will go towards grants to fund the research, development, and implementation of green energy;
- Establish an exchange for the voluntary trade of emissions credits open to all member nations, such that some nations may exceed their initially allotted emissions without punitive action via buying credits;
- Create an annual schedule of diminishing total global caps for various gasses until levels scientifically modeled to be globally sustainable are met;
- Monitor the net emissions of individual nations, taking into account both greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration, via voluntary disclosures and other non-invasive methods, such as remote sensing that is sensitive to the narrowband absorption features of targeted greenhouse gases;
- Further mandates that ambassadors representing non-compliant member nations be forced to wear itchy wool sweaters during the summer, unless doing so would be a threat to their health or conflict with religious or moral beliefs;
- Notes that individual nations will determine how to best meet their preferred target internally; and
- Clarifies that greenhouse gas emissions through natural sources, such as volcanoes, will not be considered by ACE for the purposes of this resolution.
