Posts tagged…Emissions
Monckton Lecture, Melbourne Feb 1, 2010
Thu, Jan 28 2010
A number of people have asked for these details:
Monday, 1 February 2010, 5:30 pm
Ballroom, Sofitel Hotel (25 Collins St Melbourne)
Entry by $20 'donation' at the door (no reservations).
Christopher, Viscount Monckton is a serious analyst and good fun: he has mastered the art of keeping it simple and exaggerating (a little bit). So I expect a big crowd, a great atmosphere and some clever,…
Read more…U.S. looks for a ‘critical mass’ climate deal
Fri, Jan 15 2010There is absolutely nothing new in U.S. exasperation with the United Nations and its overblown processes. This statement from the deputy U.S. climate envoy recalls the responses of thousands of technocrats exposed for the first time to the diplomatic morass; for decades, we've heard something similar from every new Administration.
"Pershing said the flaws in the UN process, which demands…
Lamy’s assessment of Copenhagen
Thu, Jan 14 2010It's called whistling in the wind.
"The outcome of the conference in Copenhagen represents a step forward. The Kyoto Protocol addresses about 30% of global carbon emissions. In contrast, the framework accord hammered out in Copenhagen last week may encompass the majority of world emissions. " Extract from WTO | 2009 News items - Lamy praises Copenhagen efforts, calls for more to be done
The…
Plurilateralism… get used to it
Sun, Dec 20 2009
Unless you've been asleep since the mid-1930s (when the League of Nations fell apart), the failures of the UN Climate Convention in Copenhagen or the World Trade Organization in Geneva to reach agreement should come as no surprise.
It's not the end of the world (or even of multilateralism) but it's an historic moment, all the same. I suspect it marks the iconic end of the pax atlantica; the…
Don’t tell the trees
Tue, Dec 08 2009Like the 'Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme', this is appalling twaddle. The main 'GHG', CO2, and the cycle of energy distribution that it mediates throughout the biosphere is essential to just about every form of life on earth.
"After a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and careful consideration of public comments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that…
Why Australia should not adopt an ETS
Tue, Oct 13 2009The mainstream media offer us nothing but politics on the question of whether the proposed Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) legislation should be adopted. Political calculation is less demanding for the journalists and offers readers an engaging melodrama. But the politics are no guide to a responsible decision on the ETS. In this post I review both the governments' stated reasons for the ETS and my…
The Emissisions Trading bill madness
Mon, Aug 10 2009The text of my email to all Victorian senators at the start of the week in which the bill comes to the Senate.
Dear Senator,
As a Victorian constitutent, I urge you to oppose the wasteful, ineffective "Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme" legislation. There is no plausible case for concern about global warming which has been mild (0.5 deg per century since 1850s) and has presently stopped. The…
Market and PPP measures of GDP
Tue, Jul 14 2009
In comments on the previous post, Ian Castles AO, the former Australian Statistician, notes that the World Bank and IMF create confusion in their reports by mixed use of market-exchange-rate (MER) and purchasing-power-parity (PPP) bases for estimating output and growth. Simply, using market exchange rates to compare the value of output among countries over-estimates the size of developed…
India against ‘green protectionism’
Fri, May 15 2009No to binding targets, no to 'carbon tariffs'.
"India on Thursday urged other emerging countries to oppose developed countries' efforts to force developing nations to make binding commitments on reducing their carbon emissions or pay tariffs, Press Trust of India reporte" Link via Kyodo News
India's opposition will have a big impact on the prospect for any decision in Copenhagen in December.
China worries about U.S. carbon tariffs
Wed, Apr 22 2009In a speech in the U.S. yesterday, Tung Chee-hwa, vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) hit out at plans for carbon tariffs in the Democrats' bill for emission controls
"A top adviser to the Chinese government on Tuesday warned that a proposed US border tax on carbon sensitive materials ‘smells of protectionism’ and could spark retaliation from developing…
A WTO ‘code’ on carbon tariffs
Thu, Apr 02 2009Gary Hufbauer, Steve Charnovitz and Jisun Kim from the Peterson Institute have produced a small book that recommends a way to deal with the vexing—but probably inevitable— conflict between future UNEP obligations to control GHG emissions and WTO provisions on keeping markets free from regulatory distortions at, and behind, the border for goods and services.
The book helpfully and accurately…
Cap-and-trade to fund Obama’s tax cuts
Thu, Mar 26 2009This seems to be a plan to make the workers pay for the proposed tax cuts for the middle-class.
"The White House planned to finance the tax cuts with revenues from its proposed cap-and-trade scheme to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, but neither the House nor Senate budget committees are planning to include those measures in their legislation.
In his press conference on Tuesday evening, Mr Obama…