Tim Worstall

Margaret Beckett.

Oooh, lovely, the smack of firm government at last!

The environment
secretary, Margaret Beckett, arrived at climate talks in Montreal
yesterday insisting that compulsory binding targets were the only
meaningful way to tackle climate change. Mrs Beckett criticised the US
administration’s reliance on voluntary action and technology to reduce
greenhouse gas pollution and said a worldwide agreement for when the
first phase of the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012 was urgently needed.

She
said: "Without mechanisms in the form of compulsory action, such as
targets to cut emissions, existing and new technologies will never be
rolled out on the scale we need. Voluntary measures can be helpful, but
compulsory action is a surer way of delivering results."

Damn those freedom loving Yankees for not administering a firm thwack to the polluters! Of course the problems can only be solved by Gauleiters telling the peons how to live!

Tony Juniper, head of
Friends of the Earth, said: "The European Union seems to have
completely misread the situation here in Montreal. There is no question
of the United States administration coming on board at these talks and
the EU and the UK presidency are wasting their time trying to convince
them. We need clear leadership from the EU to show that action can be
taken with or without the US."

Good one Tony. So we’re going to go forward without, as you keep telling us, the country which provides 25% of emissions? We’ll all be poor little goodie two shoes and suffer but get no benefit? Great logic.

Mr Nickels said
Seattle would meet or beat the 7% cut in greenhouse gas emissions the
US would have to make if it signed up to Kyoto. Other mayors have
embraced the idea and 192 have signed up, representing 40 million
people. "If we can start it at a local level and show it’s safe
politically then we think it will spread to regional and state level,"
he said.

Nine
north-eastern US states have also started to work on a regional
greenhouse gas initiative to curb power plant emissions of carbon
dioxide by 10% by 2020. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has
also pledged Kyoto-style greenhouse gas reductions for the state.

Hunh? You mean voluntary action can meet the targets?

In

3 responses

  1. James Graham Avatar
    James Graham

    Come, come, come Tim! FoE are prone to being shrill at the best of times but Juniper here is simply making the case that the EU should provide leadership. It will be easier to persuade the US to come on board if the EU can demonstrate that it can be done.
    As for voluntary action in the US reducing targets, maybe in a few isolated areas, yes. But there is no question that overall US emissions will be cut in this way, merely slowed down a little.
    Tim adds: Dunno….didn’t Steyn claim US emissions were down?

    Reply
  2. Andrew Duffin Avatar
    Andrew Duffin

    Here’s what Steyn said:
    In the past third of a century, the American economy has swollen by 150 per cent, automobile traffic has increased by 143 per cent, and energy consumption has grown 45 per cent. During this same period, air pollutants have declined by 29 per cent, toxic emissions by 48.5 per cent, sulphur dioxide levels by 65.3 per cent, and airborne lead by 97.3 per cent.
    Despite signing on to Kyoto, European greenhouse gas emissions have increased since 2001, whereas America’s emissions have fallen by nearly one per cent, despite the Toxic Texan’s best efforts to destroy the planet.
    Unfortunately no references, but I expect the figures are defendable.

    Reply
  3. embutler Avatar
    embutler

    dont know where steyn got his figures for green house gas reduction and since he doesnt mention them it is probably a reduction per gdp…in other words an increase in total but when figured against gdp ,a decrease.

    Reply

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