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Captain Compassion
Guest
Brussels considering climate tax on imports
07.01.2008 - 09:21 CET | By Mark Beunderman
http://euobserver.com/9/25400
The European Commission is considering proposing a carbon dioxide
tariff on imports from states failing to tackle greenhouse gas
emissions, while also considering a toughening-up of the EU's own
emission trading system.
According to a draft commission proposal, firms from heavily polluting
countries outside Europe would be obliged to buy EU carbon emission
permits as part of the bloc's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), Reuters
reports.
The commission is reportedly still internally divided on the idea,
ahead of a raft of proposals on a post-2012 climate change policy
which it is due to table on 23 January.
The carbon tariff on foreign firms would create a level playing field
for European companies which are currently already bearing the costs
of the ETS - a system under which firms can buy and sell excess CO2
emissions, putting an overall ceiling on emissions levels.
The plan reflects pressure by French president Nicolas Sarkozy who
argued in October that Europe should "examine the option of taxing
products imported from countries that do not respect the Kyoto
Protocol," referring to the 1997 international agreement on fighting
climate change.
Mr Sarkozy urged Brussels to discuss the implications of "unfair
competition" by firms outside the EU, which do not have to abide by
strict European standards on CO2 emissions.
But the carbon tax idea has met opposition from EU trade commissioner
Peter Mandelson who has said it would be hard to implement and could
lead to trade disputes, according to Reuters.
The EU's main trading partner, the US, has not signed the Kyoto
protocol, and is already locked in a dispute with Brussels on its plan
to include the airlines industry in the ETS.
Meanwhile, the commission draft also foresees more stringent green
rules for EU companies after 2012, when the Kyoto treaty expires.
The plan says that by 2020, the total amount of emission permits on
the EU market should be 21 percent less than in 2005, according to
German paper Handelsblatt.
This means EU firms should slash their CO2 emissions by one fifth on
average in the 2013-2020 period.
In addition, from 2013, 60 percent of emission certificates should be
auctioned rather than handed out for free to companies - whereas in
the 2008-2012 period, firms are getting 90 percent of allowances free
of charge.
The plans come at a time when the EU is trying to assume a leadership
role in fighting climate change on the world stage - but the
commission and member states are bickering continuously on who should
bear the burden of CO2 cuts.
New member state Romania has become the latest country to contest the
commission-imposed emission ceilings, Reuters reports.
Bucharest on 21 December filed a complaint at the European Court of
Justice against a commission decision to slash its 2008-2018 emissions
by 20.7 percent and lower its 2007 ceiling by 10 percent.
The move follows similar court action against Brussels by several
other member states.
--
If you disagree with the theories and dogmas of Marxism or Scientific Socialism
then you are a tool of Capitalist interests. If you disagree with the theories
or dogmas of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming then you are a tool of
Capitalistic interests. Notice a pattern here? -- Captain Compassion
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
"...the whole world, including the United States, including all that
we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark
Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights
of perverted science." -- Sir Winston Churchill
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
07.01.2008 - 09:21 CET | By Mark Beunderman
http://euobserver.com/9/25400
The European Commission is considering proposing a carbon dioxide
tariff on imports from states failing to tackle greenhouse gas
emissions, while also considering a toughening-up of the EU's own
emission trading system.
According to a draft commission proposal, firms from heavily polluting
countries outside Europe would be obliged to buy EU carbon emission
permits as part of the bloc's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), Reuters
reports.
The commission is reportedly still internally divided on the idea,
ahead of a raft of proposals on a post-2012 climate change policy
which it is due to table on 23 January.
The carbon tariff on foreign firms would create a level playing field
for European companies which are currently already bearing the costs
of the ETS - a system under which firms can buy and sell excess CO2
emissions, putting an overall ceiling on emissions levels.
The plan reflects pressure by French president Nicolas Sarkozy who
argued in October that Europe should "examine the option of taxing
products imported from countries that do not respect the Kyoto
Protocol," referring to the 1997 international agreement on fighting
climate change.
Mr Sarkozy urged Brussels to discuss the implications of "unfair
competition" by firms outside the EU, which do not have to abide by
strict European standards on CO2 emissions.
But the carbon tax idea has met opposition from EU trade commissioner
Peter Mandelson who has said it would be hard to implement and could
lead to trade disputes, according to Reuters.
The EU's main trading partner, the US, has not signed the Kyoto
protocol, and is already locked in a dispute with Brussels on its plan
to include the airlines industry in the ETS.
Meanwhile, the commission draft also foresees more stringent green
rules for EU companies after 2012, when the Kyoto treaty expires.
The plan says that by 2020, the total amount of emission permits on
the EU market should be 21 percent less than in 2005, according to
German paper Handelsblatt.
This means EU firms should slash their CO2 emissions by one fifth on
average in the 2013-2020 period.
In addition, from 2013, 60 percent of emission certificates should be
auctioned rather than handed out for free to companies - whereas in
the 2008-2012 period, firms are getting 90 percent of allowances free
of charge.
The plans come at a time when the EU is trying to assume a leadership
role in fighting climate change on the world stage - but the
commission and member states are bickering continuously on who should
bear the burden of CO2 cuts.
New member state Romania has become the latest country to contest the
commission-imposed emission ceilings, Reuters reports.
Bucharest on 21 December filed a complaint at the European Court of
Justice against a commission decision to slash its 2008-2018 emissions
by 20.7 percent and lower its 2007 ceiling by 10 percent.
The move follows similar court action against Brussels by several
other member states.
--
If you disagree with the theories and dogmas of Marxism or Scientific Socialism
then you are a tool of Capitalist interests. If you disagree with the theories
or dogmas of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming then you are a tool of
Capitalistic interests. Notice a pattern here? -- Captain Compassion
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
"...the whole world, including the United States, including all that
we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark
Age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights
of perverted science." -- Sir Winston Churchill
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
