From the Economist's Charlemagne column last week evidence that EU commitment to addressing climate change is, at least occasionally, little more than hot air:
As the Economist pointed out 'helped to stay' in this context actually just means introducing those same lower standards in the EU - or at least postponing the introduction of higher ones. If that just means business will relocate to somewhere they can operate as before then nobody wins.
Have a good weekend...
"EU leaders then asked for a range of protective policies to be spelled out. Germany backed a carve-out for the most energy-guzzling factories, giving them continued access to free carbon credits from the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS) after 2012, by which time other polluters will mostly be buying emissions allowances at auction. Endless bigwigs said heavy industry would move to countries with “lower standards” unless helped to stay. This argument even has its own jargon: “carbon leakage”, an ugly term gaining currency in Euro-circles, to convey the threat that carbon-spewing firms might move to places with weaker environmental laws."
As the Economist pointed out 'helped to stay' in this context actually just means introducing those same lower standards in the EU - or at least postponing the introduction of higher ones. If that just means business will relocate to somewhere they can operate as before then nobody wins.
Have a good weekend...
1 Comments:
And a good weekend to you too.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home