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THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED ON: 10/21/99 |
OCTOBER 1999
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October |
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19 October |
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October EU'S DE PALACIO SAYS NUCLEAR NEEDED FOR KYOTO TARGETS Reuters |
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October |
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October INFORMAL EXCHANGE OF VIEWS AND INFORMATION ON COMPLIANCE The informal exchange of views and information on compliance under the Kyoto Protocol to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) was held from 6-7 October 1999 at the Diplomatische Akademie in Vienna, Austria. The informal exchange was designed to facilitate deliberations on the development of a compliance system under the Kyoto Protocol. The workshop was organized by the Austrian Government in cooperation with the FCCC Secretariat and the Co-Chairs of the Joint Working Group on Compliance (JWG). Ninety-seven participants attended the meeting, including experts, representatives from governments, UN agencies, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. Participants met in several sessions over two days to hear presentations from experts and discuss various issues related to compliance, including: compliance regimes under the Montreal Protocol, the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) and its protocols, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO); institutional issues such as facilitative and enforcement functions, eligibility to raise issues and information gathering; and issues related to the consequences of non-compliance. The Co-Chairs of the JWG will prepare a non-paper on elements of a compliance system based on discussions held during the workshop to be presented to the fifth Conference of the Parties to the FCCC. The ENB report of the meeting can be found at http://enb.iisd.org/climate/ccom1/. |
SEPTEMBER 1999
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September |
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20 September |
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10 September |
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AUGUST 1999 |
| 31 August NORDICS ROLL OUT COOPERATIVE MECHANISMS INITIATIVE ENS reported that the Baltic region could become a main testing ground for some of the mechanisms envisaged under the Kyoto Protocol. The proposals come under an initiative close to being finalized by the inter-governmental Nordic Council. Draft proposals would be presented to delegates in the Baltic Sea Council at a workshop in Malmö, Sweden. The proposals include joint implementation projects, under which countries fund and receive credit for emissions reductions projects in second countries. These would probably be administered through a clearing house within the Helsinki based Nordic Investment Bank, and financed through a fund created specially for the purpose. A possible Nordic system of green certificates for renewable energy is also being developed. Taking in both relatively rich and poor countries with widely differing levels and structures of greenhouse gas emissions, the Baltic grouping could prove fertile ground for joint implementation schemes. Sweden, for example, could notch up credits for helping to convert oil-fired power stations to biomass in countries such as Estonia. Swedish officials say this option could be very attractive given Sweden's small scope for further reducing domestic emissions, and particularly in the light of the country's commitment to phasing out nuclear power. The next priority will be to define a baseline for such a scheme, as well as structures to validate it. The idea of creating a common "Baltic bubble" as a starting point for a burden-sharing agreement on emissions reduction similar to that struck by European Union countries has also been mooted, but is thought too ambitious at present. Officials are at pains to stress that the initiatives are being developed "in parallel with the Kyoto process," and that no final decisions will be taken until after the sixth conference of parties due in late 2000. |
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August SYDNEY FUTURES EXCHANGE ANNOUNCES PLAN TO CREATE CARBON EXCHANGE The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE) had announced plans create the world's first exchange-traded market for carbon credits as part of a plan to become a global emissions trading centre. The SFE said it expected to offer trading of so-called carbon sequestration credits by the middle of next year. The exchange is developing the market with NSW State Forests. According to the Australian Financial Review, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) signed a $3million deal with Australia's NSW State Forests to plant 1,000 hectares of forest in 2000, with the possibility this could expand to 40,000 hectares over the coming decade. The deal was based on a confidential information memorandum prepared early this year by NSW State Forests. The NSW Government hailed the memorandum and the TEPCO deal as the first in the world to take account of the "carbon value" of forest plantations. |
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JULY 1999
| 16 July MAJURO STATEMENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE The Alliance of Small Island States Workshop on the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol took place in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands at the Outrigger Resort from 14-16 July 1999. The Workshop was organized and hosted by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It had over 50 participants, including country representatives from the small island states in the South Pacific, Indian Ocean, South China Sea, Mediterranean and Caribbean, experts from various UN and regional organizations, a representative from an environmental NGO and special invitees from the Philippines, Mauritania, the US, UK, Australia, Norway, New Zealand and Switzerland. Participants discussed elements of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol including assessment of vulnerability and adaptation, use of renewable energy in the design of mitigation projects under the CDM, and capacity building for AOSIS member states. The participants adopted the Majuro Statement on Climate Change, which will be brought to the attention, inter alia, of the Fifth Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-5) in Bonn, 25 October-5 November 1999. The Statement highlighted domestic action in achieving the Protocol commitments; noted the need for the CDM to be a credible and viable Protocol mechanism; stressed the need for special capacity building initiatives in the least developed states and small island developing states; underscored the importance of vulnerability assessment and adaptation to the members of the AOSIS; and resolved to work together to coordinate donor activities and domestic priorities to more effectively address capacity building and adaptation needs of small island developing states. See, the Sustainable Developments report, along with the Majuro Statement. |
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July WORLD BANK/DET NORSKE VERITAS PROJECT CBS News reported that a $23 million project involving energy-efficient light bulbs in Mexico could lead to a global market for trading credits rewarded to countries or companies for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. World Bank and other officials involved in the project said it was the first time an international treaty on climate change was used to verify emissions reductions. The accord will be reviewed in November in Bonn, Germany. "The learning experience from this first pilot can be used to formalize the development of rules" for monitoring the reduction of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol, said Trygve Larsen, vice president of Det Norske Veritas, an international verification foundation based in Norway. To reduce costs, the agreement envisions a system in which countries obtain emission-reduction credits from other countries that already have met certain pollution levels. Critics argue it will be difficult to verify such emission reductions. The approach officials discussed would involve private companies creating and transferring greenhouse emission-reduction credits. For example, a company could obtain a credit with a certain dollar value by building a power plant in a developing country. It could then sell that credit on the market or acquire credits. To gain international acceptance that any emission reductions achieved are genuine requires certification by an independent, internationally recognized third party auditor. Residents in the Mexican cities of Monterrey and Guadalajara replaced ordinary light bulbs with energy saving ones that are 75 percent more efficient and last 10 times longer. The objective was to require less electricity and thus reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants. Det Norske Veritas confirmed the lighting helped cut the equivalent of 171,168 tons of carbon dioxide from 1995 to 1998. |
JUNE 1999
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| 24 June RED CROSS REPORT ON INCREASING DISASTERS The New York Times, along with several other papers, highlighted a Red Cross report warning that, driven by climatic changes, natural disasters are increasing and threatening economically vulnerable countries. The annual World Disasters Report said that in six years, the number of people who needed aid after disasters like floods and earthquakes had risen, from fewer than 500,000 a year to more than 5.5 million. Last year, natural disasters left far more people needing aid than armed conflicts did, the report said. Drought, flooding, deforestation and soil problems drove more than 25 million people from their houses, the study found. In Indonesia, the El Niño weather pattern set off the worst drought in 50 years, exemplifying a trend of chain-reaction disasters, the report said. The drought caused rice yields to plummet and led to an increase in rice imports. Because of a devalued currency, the price of imported rice soared to four times its earlier level and food riots erupted in the capital, Jakarta. At the same time, Indonesia had a dry rainy season, so fires that farmers set in slash-and-burn agriculture were not doused. Other countries and regions have also suffered disasters like Hurricane Mitch in Central America. An additional 10 million people are vulnerable to flooding because they live in low-lying areas. The Red Cross estimated that 96 percent of deaths from natural disasters were in developing countries. "We used to look at these natural disasters as blips on the screen of a country's development," the director of disaster policy at the Red Cross, Peter Walker, said. "But now they really change the development future of a country." Access to insurance is dropping because insurers have incurred mounting losses for 10 years, the report said, and natural disasters represent 85 percent of insured catastrophe losses. See also: CBS; BBC; Time Magazine |
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June CUTAJAR SEES END TO EU - US ROW Negotiations on reducing emissions of the greenhouse gases are on track despite disagreement between Europe and the United States on how to achieve the cuts, according to FCCC Executive Secretary Michael Zammit Cutajar in a Reuters news story. He expected a broad deal to emerge by the time of a conference, scheduled for the end of next year, on implementing emission cuts. "There will be agreements at COP-6 that will require further work," Cutajar said in an interview during talks in Bonn, referring to a U.N.-hosted meeting due to take place in the Dutch city of The Hague around the end of 2000. "But I am expecting that COP-6 should deal with the big issues separating the parties," he added. Cutajar said neither bloc had retreated from its position during the largely technical talks in Bonn but said there was a growing "sense of movement" entering discussions. Cutajar said the major polluters were holding off ratifying the document until it was clear exactly what it would require of them. "COP-6 would be the trigger for a wave of ratifications," he said, adding that without a deal in The Hague there was, conversely, little chance of the United States ratifying the protocol. |
MAY 1999
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May – 11 June |
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May EU STATES AGREE ON A UNITED FRONT ON GLOBAL WARMING Reuters reported that the European Union governments agreed on a common approach for international talks on controlling emissions of greenhouse gases. Diplomats from the 15 EU states finalized the bloc's negotiating position after the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland dropped their opposition to an earlier proposal at a meeting of EU environment ministers. Under the Protocol, the EU has to cut its emissions of six greenhouse gases by 8 percent from 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. Cuts are shared between the 15 EU members, depending on current pollution levels and their level of industrial development. Luxembourg must slash its emissions by 28 percent, while Portugal will be allowed to increase its emissions by 27 percent. Acting EU Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard wants to limit the use of so-called "flexible mechanisms" - such as emissions trading – to ensure that countries meet the lion's share of their commitments by cutting their own domestic emissions. The Dutch, Swedes and Finns had sought to water down the Commission's tough line, but have now agreed to a formula which guarantees that at least half of the EU's commitments must be met by genuine domestic reductions in pollution. "It's a very complex formula," the official said. "But the bottom lineis that at least 50 percent of the reductions must be achieved through domestic action." Agreement was reached only after a last-minute protest by Denmark, which feared that overuse of flexible mechanisms would undermine the agreement, officials said. Bjerregaard is anxious to prevent other developed countries, including the United States, from wriggling out of their commitments by watering down what was agreed in Kyoto, Japan. The paper finally agreed by the EU calls on countries to "develop strong domestic policies and measures in order to modify long-term emission trends...production and consumption patterns. Thereby, it will contribute to preparing the path for more ambitious commitments." It also watered down calls in an earlier draft for a quick decision on plans for an EU-wide energy tax, after opposition led by Greece, officials said. |
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APRIL 1999
| 28 April US SENATORS ALTERNATIVE TO CLIMATE TREATY The Washington Post reported that U.S. senators opposed to the Kyoto climate change treaty introduced legislation that would replace international mandates for cutting carbon gas emissions with voluntary, market-based programs. Opponents of the Kyoto pact cited calculations from the U.S. Department of Energy that said meeting targeted emissions cuts would boost domestic gasoline and electricity prices by 53 percent and 86 percent, respectively, by the year 2010. Called the Energy and Climate Policy Act of 1999, the mostly GOP-backed bill attempts to change the debate on whether to implement terms of the unratified treaty, and instead offers measures its sponsors say are achievable. "Even if we could eventually halt all emissions from the 35 industrial nations required to limit emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, emissions from the 134 developing nations would continue to grow and atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases would continue to increase," said Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee. The Clinton administration signed the Kyoto Protocol in November 1998, but staunch opposition in the Senate has kept the White House from submitting the treaty for ratification. A coalition of environmentalists blasted the newly proposed legislation as fundamentally unsound, calling it a "dangerous diversion" that does nothing to curb growing rates of U.S. carbon emissions. |
19 April |
| 14 April US-CHINESE COOPERATION HIGHLIGHTED WITH AGREEMENTS ON EMISSIONS TRADING, ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY AND INVESTMENT M2 Presswire reported that Vice President Al Gore and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at the close of the Second Session of the U.S.-China Policy Forum on Environment and Development announced a series of agreements that will help open Chinese markets to U.S. environmental technology, expand U.S. investment in the Chinese energy sector, and take several steps toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions in China. In an agreement that will accelerate the export of U.S. environmental technology to China, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the Department of Energy, the China Development Bank, and China's State Development Planning Commission have signed A Memorandum of Understanding on a $100 Million Clean Energy Program. By funding the sale of U.S. environmental technology to China, this program will accelerate the deployment of clean U.S. technologies in the area of energy efficiency, renewable energy, and pollution reduction. In an agreement that will move China closer to a system of emissions trading, the EPA and China's State Environmental Protection Administration signed a Statement of Intent on development of a Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Emissions Trading Feasibility Study. The agreement calls for developing a study to test the effectiveness of emissions trading in China as a market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This approach -- which uses market mechanisms to create financial rewards for reducing pollution -- has been successful in cutting pollution at low cost in the United States. In an agreement that paves the way for the first-ever foreign investment in an on-shore natural gas pipeline in China, Enron Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a natural Gas Pipeline Project with China National Petroleum Corporation for the joint development of a natural gas pipeline in south central China. This pipeline would represent an important piece of China's natural gas infrastructure and help offer a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. The US and Chinese delegations also concluded agreements involving energy efficiency, air quality management, cleaner air and cleaner energy technology, and the impact of pollution on children's health. The US-China Policy Forum on Environment and Development was founded by Vice President Gore and then-Premier Li Peng in March 1997 to expand cooperation and intensify dialogue between the US and China on issues related to sustainable development, particularly protection of the global environment. |
| 22 April EU CLEARS GERMAN ECOLOGICAL TAX SCHEME Reuters reported that the European Commission approved the German government's ecological tax reform, saying it does not break European Union rules on state aid. The Commission had questioned plans to limit the tax hikes for certain energy intensive industries, including agriculture and the railways, but has now decided that the measures are in line with the EU's environmental goals. "The Commission has decided not to raise any objections...since it sees them as being in line with the Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection, its past practice in other member states and the environmental policy of the Community," it said in a statement. The scheme will initially be approved for three years. The German government will then reapply for the Commission's approval if it has not completed the second stage of its tax reform by then, the Commission, the EU's executive, said. Germany increased taxes on petrol, electricity, heating fuel and other energy products on April 1 to improve environmental protection and compensate for a reduction in salary-linked contributions, to fight unemployment. |
MARCH 1999
| 15 March U.N. SAYS RUSSIA, CROATIA SIGN KYOTO CLIMATE PACT Reuters reported that Russia, the world's second leading producer of emissions thought to cause global warming, and Croatia had signed a world climate pact ahead of a March 15 deadline. "We received notification from New York that Croatia and Russia signed yesterday," a U.N. official in Bonn told Reuters. Almost 80 nations have signed the pact ahead of a Monday deadline and seven of the nations most threatened by the effects of climate change have ratified it. Countries have until March 15 to sign the U.N. Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty which would legally bind developed nations to limit their output of fossil fuel emissions and other harmful gases in the coming century. Under the U.N. plan, a treaty would go into effect only if the accord is ratified by countries accounting for 55 percent of 1990 developed world emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). Russia accounted for 17.4 percent of CO2 emissions among industrial countries, while the United States, which signed the pact in November, accounted for over a third. Hungary, Iceland and the Ukraine are still missing from the list of signatories, chief U.N. climate official Michael Zammit Cutajar said. |
| 11 March EU PUSHES KOREA, JAPAN ON CAR POLLUTION STANDARDS Reuters reported that European Union environment ministers said they would consider imposing binding restrictions on cars from South Korea and Japan if talks on air pollution standards were not wrapped up by the end of May. The ministers said they were concerned about slow progress in the talks, especially with the Korean car industry. The European Commission, the executive arm of the 15-member EU, has been attempting to convince Japanese and Korean manufacturers to make the same commitments to produce more fuel-efficient cars as their European rivals. The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) agreed last July to reduce car fuel consumption in an effort to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the fight against global warming. However, it said its effort hinged on Japanese and Korean car manufacturers taking equivalent action. The Commission reported to ministers that negotiations with the Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association (JAMA) were likely to produce a deal after further talks in April. However, it said it remained far apart from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers' Association (KAMA) on what is required to mirror ACEA's commitments. They told the Commission to conclude its negotiations with both groups by the end of May and asked it to present a report in June that would evaluate whether legislative measures were needed to impose the pollution standards. |
| 11 March EU FAILS TO AGREE LIMITS ON GLOBAL EMISSIONS TRADING Reuters reported that European Union environment ministers on Thursday failed to agree on how to limit the use ``flexible mechanisms'' by countries trying to meet global commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The EU wants a ceiling on trading to ensure that countries fulfil the bulk of their commitments by cutting their own emissions. The ministers considered several formulas based on the percentages of certain types of emissions that would apply to industrialised countries that either transfer or acquire emission targets. But some countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland, argued that the formulas were too rigid, an EU official said. The Netherlands wanted to achieve 50 percent of its own cuts through the flexible mechanisms. |
| 9 March UK INTRODUCES ENERGY TAX ON BUSINESS The Independent reported that the Chancellor would announce plans today to tax the business use of gas, electricity and oil to raise an estimated £7bn and help Britain to meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gases. Tony Blair met Gordon Brown twice to finalise the Budget package, adding to speculation that the Prime Minister intervened at an early stage to reduce the impact of tax changes on middle-class families. But with most of the Budget papers already being printed, it is believed they were working on the final tone of the speech to be delivered to Parliament. In one key development, Mr Brown ended the prevarication over an energy tax by acting on the conclusions of the report by Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge, the chairman of British Airways, in favour of taxing big users of energy to help Britain meet multilateral emissions agreements. Labour's election manifesto pledged to cut harmful carbon dioxide emissions, which produce global warming, by 2010. Business leaders are worried that the tax will create an advantage for foreign competitors, but they are braced for the announcement and have privately indicated that their criticism will be muted. The measure was welcomed by environmentalists. It forms part of the Chancellor's "green" strategy agreed with the Deputy Prime Minister. |
| 4 March US SENATORS INTRODCUCE LEGISLATION ON EARLY CREDIT Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I., Chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, with Sens. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), John Warner (R-Va.), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and a host of others introduced S. 547, the Credit for Voluntary Reductions Act. The intent is to diminish this uncertainty, this regulatory and financial risk, with which the business community must now contend. The bill does this by creating an "escrow account" for any U.S. entity that has made up its own mind to do things to reduce or sequester greenhouse gases. According to its authors, it does not intend to jave any other effect with respect to ratification and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol or any other international or domestic regulatory program. Statements from the Senate Hearing on the bill "Voluntary Activities to Reduce the Emission of Greenhouse Gases," held 24 March 1999 are available at http://www.senate.gov/~epw/stm1_106.htm#03-24-99. |
FEBRUARY 1999
| 12 February EU PARLIAMENT REJECTS ENERGY TAXATION LEGISLATION Reuters reported that the European Parliament rejected plans to increase taxes on energy products in the European Union, sending it back to committee for further debate. The draft law on energy products was designed to bring existing minimum rates of tax on heating and motor fuels, set in 1992, into line with inflation and to introduce taxes on other energy sources which produce the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) - including the coal and natural gas used in power generation. It is also designed to help governments create jobs by redirecting tax policy away from labour in a way that does not cut into their revenue. The EU assembly rejected the proposal by a vote of 239 to 215, with 20 abstentions. The move came after the dominant Socialist group succeeded in pushing through a series of amendments designed to link levels of taxation on different fuels more closely to their impact on the environment. Conservative and liberal Euro-deputies thought the amendments went too far while the Greens felt they did not go far enough, parliament officials said. The Socialists' amendments said the level of tax on different energy sources should be based partly on their environmental and public health effects, and called for tax exemptions for renewable sources of energy such as wind, wave and solar power. |
| 2 February CLINTON PROPOSES U.S. BUDGET ON ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY The New York Times reported that the Clinton Administration is seeking a record $33.9 billion for environmental programs next year, an increase of 5 percent over this year's spending. Perhaps the hardest part of the budget to sell in Congress will be the $4 billion for fighting the risk of global warming, mainly by spurring research and investments in energy efficiency. But even industry lobbyists who have opposed a proposed international treaty to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases welcomed some of the proposals, saying they would help companies take voluntary steps. Along with hefty increases in Federal energy research, the budget seeks $3.6 billion in tax breaks over the next five years for renewable energy investments and for purchases of energy-efficient homes, cars and appliances. Congress has turned down similar ideas before. Another major initiative calls for spending $1 billion next year to buy land for conservation, a record amount. Like several other environmental proposals, this one had already been announced by the White House. Regarding Energy Initiatives, the Energy Department's operating budget for the 2000 fiscal year would rise $717 million, or 4.1 percent about the 1999 figure, not counting one-time expenditures this year like buying enriched uranium from Russia and helping that country safeguard plutonium. Spending in 2000 would be $17.8 billion, about the same as what the department is spending this year, including those one-time expenditures. The Administration wants to spend $208 million more on renewable energy and energy efficiency, and $138 million for science projects, including supercomputers and a new nuclear laboratory at Oak Ridge, Tenn., that would use neutrons to investigate the properties of matter. The proposal also includes $109 million for "threats of nuclear, biological and chemical proliferation," and for doubling the counterintelligence effort, because of penetration of the department's laboratories by foreign spies. |
JANUARY 1999
| January 29 SCIENTISTS WARN AGAINST IGNORING CLIMATE CHANGE The New York Times reported that the American Geophysical Union, the United States' most broadly based professional organization in earth and space science, said in an official policy statement Thursday that there was a "compelling basis for legitimate public concern" about human-induced climatic change. Scientific uncertainty about the problem, the statement said, "does not justify inaction" in coping with it. The statement dealt with the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. The burning produces carbon dioxide, a gas that traps heat in Earth's atmosphere as in a greenhouse. The geophysical union said "there is no known geologic precedent" for the conversion of carbon from Earth's crust into atmospheric carbon dioxide, in the amounts being burned as fossil fuels, without changing the climate. The statement is the eighth the union has issued on some aspect of science-related public policy, and the latest in a long list of statements on global warming over the last two decades by prestigious scientific groups that have reached similar conclusions. While the statement recommended the development of strategies for dealing with global warming, it did not propose any specific solutions. See also: the BBC or the Christian Science Monitor |
| 19 January ITALY "CARBON TAX" TO RAISE 2.18 TRILLION LIRE Reuters reported the Italy was putting up the price of petrol in line with a new "carbon tax" and that it expected the measure to raise 2.18 trillion lire to help cut labour costs and stimulate the jobs market in the poor south. Petrol prices, already among the highest in the European Union, will rise from 10 lire a litre for super gasoline to 40 lire a litre for diesel from midnight on Friday (2300 GMT). The cabinet earlier approved the carbon tax, a levy on polluting fuels that was one of the revenue-raising steps included in the 1999 budget and a measure designed to bring Italy in line with the Kyoto Protocol. Super petrol, which costs an average 1,815 lire a litre will go up by 10 lire. Lead-free petrol will cost 32 lire a litre more - the average price now is 1,715 lire. The cost of diesel, now an average of 1,348 lire a litre will go up by 40 lire. The cost of automobile methane will rise by 25 lire while that of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) will fall by 27 lire. The government said in a statement the carbon tax would help pay for three years of welfare contributions on behalf of employers taking on new staff in Italy's underdeveloped south, the "Mezzogiorno". The cash raised will also fund 50 percent of pension contributions for three years that young businessmen who change jobs by the end of next year would have faced. The government said it forecast the revenue from the carbon tax would rise to 2.271 trillion lire in 2000 and 2.271 trillion lire in 2001. |
| 2 January US INDUSTRY PRESSES FOR GREENHOUSE CREDIT The New York Times reported that big companies were maneuvering to push through legislation giving them valuable credits for early actions to control the waste gases that the Kyoto Protocol would strictly limit. If the Senate approves it despite widespread opposition from major industries, companies want to be sure they get credit for any reductions they achieve before the treaty takes force in 2008. The legislation would mark a significant shift in the debate in the Senate over climate change, potentially moderating the opposition to the treaty among big industry groups and linking their financial interests to the goals of treaty supporters. For some companies, credits earned now could be applied against strict limits they would face later. Companies able to make even deeper cuts in emissions now could sell their surplus credits for billions of dollars under an emissions trading system. Three senators, led by John Chafee of Rhode Island, the leading Republican environmentalist in the Senate, introduced legislation late in the last session that would assure companies that their early reductions would earn credit under any mechanism the government establishes to limit emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill is also supported by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Connie Mack, R-Fla. The bill gives ton-for-ton credits to any of the more than 150 companies that can document reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions under voluntary federal programs. |
DECEMBER 1998
| 21 December EU MULLS CURBS ON POLLUTIVE JAPANESE, KOREAN CARS Reuters reported that the European Union could impose binding restrictions on imports of cars from Japan and Korean which do not respect EU air pollution standards. ``There is a possibility we could introduce legislation. The European car industry has shown a huge envirnmental commitment. We are putting pressure on the Japanese and Korean manufacturers to reach a similar arrangement,'' European Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard told a news conference during a meeting of EU environment ministers. The Commission -- the executive arm of the 15-nation EU -- is pressing Japanese and South Korean vehicle manufacturers to copy their European rivals and produce more fuel-efficient cars, in a bid to cut the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) spewed out from car exahusts. Emissions of CO2, the most powerful greenhouse gas, from the EU transport sector are increasing fast in spite of the bloc's commitment to combat global warming. The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) agreed in July to reduce car fuel consumption to around six litres per 100 kilometres by 2008, down from the current average of 7.7 litres/km, a move which would cut the amount of CO2 in exhaust fumes from 186 grammes per kilometre to 140g/km. But ACEA, whose members also include U.S. car makers Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, made it clear this commitment, which is not legally binding, hinges on rival manufacturers in Japan and Korea agreeing to equivalent efforts. But Commission officials say a first round of negotiations in October and November with the Japanese and Koreans revealed the Asian car makers were far from keen to follow ACEA's lead. The Japanese were imposing unacceptable conditions, including the abolition of the EU's 10 percent tariff on car imports, in return for reducing fuel consumption, and said the ACEA accord was too strict, one Commission official told reporters. The Koreans, for their part, argued they did not have the technology to make the improvements and were unable to make such efforts while they were in the throes of an economic crisis and a restructuring process that had seen annual car sales plummet by 30 to 40 percent, the official said. The official said unless there was ``substantial progress'' in the negotiations by mid-1999, the Commission might propose legally-binding restrictions on Asian car imports who did not accept voluntary CO2 cuts. As such legislation would apply across the board to European and non-EU manufacturers alike, it would not be in violation of world trade rules, the official said. The Commission is due to report back to EU environment chiefs on the progress of the negotiations when the ministers reconvene in Brussels next March. According to ACEA data, leading Japanese car makers active in west European markets include Nissan, Toyota, Mazda (7261.T and Mitsubishi. ACEA gives no breakdown for imports from Korea. |
| 8 December EARTH AT ITS WARMEST IN PAST 12 CENTURIES The Washington Post reported that the warming of the Earth in this century is without precedent in at least 1,200 years and cannot be fully explained by any known combination of natural forces, one of the federal government's top climate scientists said yesterday. New research that documents climate change as far back as the Holy Roman Empire is strengthening the argument that humans are partly responsible for the rising temperatures, said Jonathan Overpeck, head of the paleoclimatology program for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "There is no period that we can recognize in the last 1,200 years that was as warm on a global basis," said Overpeck, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. "That makes what we're now seeing more unusual, and more difficult to explain without turning to a 'greenhouse gas' mechanism." Overpeck made the assertion as the eastern half of the United States basked in an extended December heat wave that has shattered temperature records in dozens of cities. Although the warm spell is not, of itself, evidence of global warming, a sharp spike in global temperatures in the past two years has intensified the debate over humankind's contribution to climate change. New scientific findings presented in San Franciso appeared to simultaneously add clarity and confusion to the debate. While some researchers reported strong signals of human-induced warming in the past century, other scientists acknowledged enormous uncertainties that complicate the task of forecasting climate change in the future. One of the speakers, James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, argues that scientists know too little about the complexities of climate, such as changes in cloud cover, to make accurate predictions. Hansen, who told a congressional panel in 1988 that the greenhouse effect "is here," caused a stir a month ago when he wrote about those uncertainties in a prominent journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The forcings that drive long-term climate change are not known with an accuracy sufficient to define future climate change," Hansen wrote. Overpeck, in his speech, said this century's warmer temperatures are appearing more anomalous as scientists improve their understanding of climate change in the past. Not only has the 20th century produced the hottest years on record, he said, but the magnitude of change appears to be without parallel since at least 800 A.D. |
NOVEMBER 1998
| 23 November MIXED REACTION TO THE BUENOS AIRES PLAN OF ACTION AND COP-4 According to BBC News, the UK Environment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, denied that the agreement had been fudged at the last minute saying it was a good day for the environment. "It didn't look as if it was going to come off but it has and I'm delighted," he said. "There's still a lot of work to do. What we've done is set out a timetable for that programme so that we can achieve it." "In a short time we have come a long way in trying to combat climate change for future generations," he said. "We set legally binding targets in Kyoto. Now, less than 12 months later, developed countries have set themselves an action plan to deliver those targets." After emerging from the marathon talks with representatives from several key countries, Eizenstat said: "We're very pleased. We think it advances the momentum of Kyoto," reported the Economic Times of India. Eizenstat said "The conference reflected a changing attitude among nations and among corporations--a prime focus of any serious anti-pollution campaign--that is encouraging." Others, such as the Financial Times, characterized the meeting as postponing most of its difficult decisions, doing little more than outline the items to be discussed in the future. Still others, such as Friends of the Earth labeled the agreement as an "inaction" plan. FOE claimed the conference had failed to face up to the fact that the Kyoto targets were not ambitious enough. "Every year that they put off hard political decisions, dangerous climate change becomes an increasing inevitability," the group said. Greenpeace said the real issue of escalating greenhouse gas emissions had been "obscured by a thick fog of jargon," adding: "Climate is getting pushed further and further down the agenda." More optimistically, "There were few successes, but one of the surprise successes here was the worldwide recognition that the Kyoto protocol needs to have a credible compliance system in order to be effective," said Jennifer Morgan of the World Wildlife Fund. The world community must still decide how to monitor compliance, who will do the policing and what the punishments will be if targets are not met. Regarding voluntary commitments, the Washington Post reported that observers had cited the decisions by two developing countries -- Argentina and Kazakhstan -- to set voluntary limits on their emissions as a significant breakthrough. "The show of leadership to the rest of the world was critical," said Eileen Claussen of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, a partnership of large corporations that broadly support action on climate change. "This meeting turned a critical corner, showing the first signs of a global response to this problem." One of the fiercest arguments was over voluntary commitments to abate emissions, yet U.S. diplomats and environmentalists welcomed the notable change in the attitudes of developing nations, which in the past resisted pressure to increase their role in the fight against global warming. Because U.S. ratification of the Kyoto treaty faces stiff opposition from Senate opponents who demand "meaningful progress" by key developing nations before considering the issue, the commitment by Argentina and Kazakhstan amounted to a domestic political victory for the Clinton administration. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, "These pledges reflect a growing recognition that climate change is truly a global challenge that requires a global solution," said Undersecretary of State Stuart E. Eizenstat, the chief U.S. delegate. "They have changed the map of future negotiations." Regarding the US signing of the Protocol, US Vice President Al Gore said in the New York Times, "Our signing of the protocol underscores our determination to achieve a truly global solution to this global challenge." But he emphasized that much more bargaining lies ahead. "I am not gilding the lily when I say there was near euphoria among delegates here," he said. "They just felt this was a real sign of U.S. leadership. I think there was really a doubt that we were really going to pursue this, with all the opposition in the Senate and in other quarters. The feeling was that perhaps the domestic opposition was so stiff that we were going to back off." Others argued that it was not so significant, in fact, because it does not take the US any closer to ratification. "The president has chosen a risky path both domestically and internationally," said Connie Holms of the Global Climate Coalition, which represents major industry groups opposed to the treaty. "Clinton has sent the U.S. careening down an endless highway which appears on no maps, has no speed limits, no police patrols, and no exit or entrance ramps." Sen. Chuck Hagel, R.-Neb., who sponsored a Senate resolution last year that opposed signing the treaty unless certain conditions were met, said the signing "blatantly contradicts the will of the US Senate" and dared Clinton to submit it to the Senate. "If this treaty is good enough to sign, it's good enough to be submitted to the Senate for an open, honest debate," he said. But there is a strong possibility that without the US coming on board, the entire international agreement on emissions reductions could fall apart in a few years' time. The crunch time is likely to be after the next US presidential elections. Optimists about ratification hope that political sentiment in the US will swing behind the Kyoto protocol. They cite growing public concern about climate change, and a growing willingness of US industry to take climate change seriously, as grounds for hope. |
2-13 November
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