Are these fines owed by Japan, Spain, and Italy for not meeting their Kyoto Treaty Emissions goals actually going to be paid? I can not imagine it. They have not only not met their treaty obligations, their emissions have actually increased. Is this all some global joke, or what?
Peter
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“L'hôpital se moque de la charité” [French saying]
Every day one contemplates ‘global warming’ and the Kyoto Protocol, the more the hypocrisy hits you. I am increasingly angry at the political nonsense we have to witness, year in, year out, especially from the countries of the E.U. The forthcoming Bali Conference (see: ‘Bali Hoo Is Calling’, November 25) will be yet another depressing spectacle. I must ask: “Is ‘global warming’ the ultimate example of a faith without works?” Here are two new reports which would indicate precisely so.
First, from Bloomberg (‘Japan, Spain, Italy Face $33 Billion Kyoto Payments (Update1) ’, November 30; quotes from original version):
“Japan, Italy and Spain face fines of as much as $33 billion combined for failing to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as promised under the Kyoto treaty.
The three countries are the worst performers among 36 nations that agreed to curb carbon dioxide gases that cause climate change.”
[May I remind you that this is the Japan after which the Kyoto Protocol is named, and the Italy which recently threatened India with trade sanctions if if didn’t accept European Kyoto-style emission targets. The arrogance is outrageous.] And the reason for the failures:
“’They’re looking at a huge bill now,’ said Mike Rosenberg, management professor at the University of Navarra’s IESE Business School in Barcelona. ‘That is because none would pay to reconvert factories, power plants and paper mills’ to trim gases blamed for the planet-warming ‘greenhouse effect.’”
The figures stack up as follows:
“Spain vowed to cap emissions growth at 15 percent above the 1990 level, and its government forecasts 37 percent growth. Italy agreed to a 6.5 percent cut and may increase by 11 percent. Japan promised a 6 percent drop and estimates a 1.6 percent gain.”
Accordingly, “Spain faces a $7.8 billion cost, and Italy and Japan each may owe about $13 billion, based on estimates by their governments and the current price for permits.”
But who will pay for such follies? In Italy, taxpayers will foot 75 per cent of the bill; Japanese taxpayers will pay for two-thirds; Spain will pass 40 percent of the cost on to businesses, while the rest will come from taxes. Wonderful!
I hope the good folk of these countries will now understand the sheer fatuousness of ‘global warming’ politics/economics and begin to cry “Enough is enough!”
But then, secondly, there is evergreen Ireland (‘Taxpayer to foot bill if Kyoto target not reached’, Independent.ie, November 28):
“Ireland is set to overshoot its Kyoto targets by almost 100pc as things stand, according to the latest figures from the European Commission.”
“CO2 emissions in Ireland, by 2012, will be more than 22.5pc above 1990 levels.” “This is almost twice the Kyoto target of 13pc.”
[Note, en passant, that Ireland (the poor old Celtic Tiger that it is) was actually permitted an increase in emissions under the Protocol]
So, again, the cost to the Irish tax payer? “Tax payers face having to fork out more than €270m so that Ireland can ‘buy its way’ into meeting the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gas emissions.”
All I ask is this: please bear these political and economic realities in mind when the hot air starts to circle around the globe from the Bali Conference [and these are but four examples - try Canada next, if you have a moment]. Just watch the Coriolis effect bend the warm words and bring them firmly down-to-earth. Above all, beware naive and ever-optimistic blather from BBC correspondents, and their ilk, over what is going on at Bali.
And, of course, the developing world should remain ever wary of the ‘good intentions’ of the developed world!
Ultimately, it will all end in tears.
As the French say: “L'hôpital se moque de la charité.”
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