May 2, 2006
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE GOOD NEWS IS BAD:
Pollution reports hurt CO2 emissions market (Richard Ingham, May 2, 2006, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE)
Dark clouds suddenly have gathered over the fledgling market for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, where prices plunged by more than half last week as European countries discovered they were polluting far less than they thought.
The innovative market was established under the Kyoto Protocol for controlling emissions of greenhouse gases -- the carbon gases emitted mainly by burning oil, gas and coal that most scientists think are driving climate change. [...]"The downturn is due to exceptional circumstance -- the publication of verified emissions by a number of European countries," said Jean-Francois Conil-Lacoste, director-general of Powernext, Europe's biggest CO2 market.
Authorities in five of the 25 EU countries -- France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Belgium's Wallonia region -- reported that their CO2 pollution last year was less than their quota levels, whereas Spain said it had exceeded its quota, but by less than expected.
This was the first time that governments reported their actual levels of emissions. The quotas established for the firms participating in the ETS were based on estimates.
On the face of it, this is a rare bit of good news for the environment, given that global levels of CO2 are surging, fueling growing concern about the stability of Earth's climate system.
The announcements, though, have the effect of unloading more sellers on the market. Analysts warn that a white-knuckle price ride could undermine confidence in what Kyoto's supporters claim is the smartest and most flexible way to tackle carbon pollution.
"It would be premature to trumpet this as good news," the Financial Times commented on Friday.
So George W. Bush was right that industrial progress would lower emissions but it's bad news? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 2, 2006 8:39 AM
Guess this report was prepared by the same people who certified that Greece, Italy, etc., met the Euronorm in preparation to the conversion to the single currency. I'm anxiously awaiting their next report showing that economic growth in the EU has finally surpassed that of the US.
Posted by: Daran at May 2, 2006 9:57 AMThe really bad news would be if the emission figures are correct. That would mean the problem is less severe than had been thought. Every printing press in the world would break if you started printing that headline.
The hysteria over anthropogenic climate change stoked by anti-capitalist and anti-American extremists (and fellow travellers) may well be the greatest fraud successfully perpetrated in the history of the world.
Posted by: b at May 2, 2006 1:27 PMb: I think communism/socialism is still ahead by 150 million dead.
Posted by: Daran at May 2, 2006 4:16 PMDaran: Communism is a natural outgrowth of the French Revolution's mistaken philosophy of "equality" which isn't quite the same thing as a "fraud."
Posted by: b at May 2, 2006 5:03 PM