The European Union is ready to show continued leadership on the climate agenda and will speed up the green diplomacy now, with less than three months to go to the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. That was the message from the EU Presidency, the Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, at a press conference in Copenhagen today.
”We will continue to show European leadership. Europe is not going to decide everything, we require of course agreement with everyone else in the world. But I think that it is not going to happen without European leadership,” Carl Bildt said. ”As we now approach the Copenhagen meeting we must accelerate the European global diplomacy and that is what we have decided here in Copenhagen to do, today, in the days, weeks, and months to come.”
By invitation of the Danish foreign minister, Per Stig Moeller, five European foreign ministers met in Copenhagen on Thursday. The foreign ministers from Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Finland and Denmark decided to unite diplomatic efforts to speed up the global negotiations on a new climate deal to take over, when emissions targets in the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012.
”We decided to pool our diplomatic network around eight hundred embassies all together to influence key international partners in the climate negotiations. We will organize and coordinate our contacts with key countries, including of course developing countries,” Per Stig Moeller said. ”We feel that the momentum is now, and it is here in Copenhagen – only with political will from all participants – we can grasp that momentum. If we miss this opportunity it will fade away,” he said.
The British foreign minister, David Miliband, said that the world is now entering the ”hot phase of the campaign”.
”We are here because a Copenhagen deal hangs in the balance. There is a real danger that the world will not come together in the way that it is necessary to agree on an ambitious and comprehensive deal in December,” he said and mentioned the financing of a deal as an important unsolved issue.
The Danish minister said it is time for Europe to show ”leadership on ensuring an ambitious financial package that can assist the poorest countries to adapt to the challenges posed by the climate change. My colleagues and I have agreed that we must work as hard as possible together to help prepare the ground for a result at the European summit next month on this issue.”
The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, expressed understanding that the developing countries don’t want to harm their chances of economic development by a new climate deal.
The Finnish foreign minister, Alexander Stubb, sent the message that the climate negotiations are not just about global warming. The outcome is also important for the environment, the economy and the security of the world.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
French carbon tax from 2010
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday announced plans to impose a new carbon tax on oil, gas and coal as part of a drive to combat global warming.
As part of a drive to combat global warming, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on Thursday, announced plans to impose a new carbon tax next year on oil, gas and coal.
"The carbon tax will be created. It will be imposed as of 2010 on oil, gas and coal," Sarkozy said in a speech.
The new tax is set at 17 euro per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted, higher than a figure floated last week by Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
Revenues from the new tax will however be put back into taxpayers' pockets through other tax cuts and "green cheques", the French president assured.
The plan will make France the biggest economy in Europe to impose a carbon tax on households and businesses.
Finland was the first European country to impose a carbon tax, in 1990, followed a year later by Sweden and later Denmark.
As part of a drive to combat global warming, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on Thursday, announced plans to impose a new carbon tax next year on oil, gas and coal.
"The carbon tax will be created. It will be imposed as of 2010 on oil, gas and coal," Sarkozy said in a speech.
The new tax is set at 17 euro per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted, higher than a figure floated last week by Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
Revenues from the new tax will however be put back into taxpayers' pockets through other tax cuts and "green cheques", the French president assured.
The plan will make France the biggest economy in Europe to impose a carbon tax on households and businesses.
Finland was the first European country to impose a carbon tax, in 1990, followed a year later by Sweden and later Denmark.
China could be 1 trillion dollar green tech market
The report by the China Greentech Initiative, a group of more than 80 leading technology companies, non-governmental organizations and policy advisers, pinpointed opportunities from 300 potential green technology options for China, spanning energy, water, buildings, transportation and industry.
But government support is key, says Richard Gledhill, global leader of Climate Change & Carbon Market Services in London for PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy that helped head the research.
According to the US International Energy Agency, holding climate change to just a 2 degrees Celsius increase over the next two decades will require 9 trillion US dollars in extra spending, he says.
"The private sector has a key role to play in delivering the required investment at the scale required to avoid dangerous climate change. But it will only do this if there is a clear, long-term policy framework to underpin prospects of a reasonable return," Gledhill says.
While such changes are needed worldwide, China's rapid growth and dizzyingly fast urbanization are contributing to a building boom that has created more than twice the floor space as in the US.
About 18 million people migrate from rural areas to the cities each year, so that by about 2050 China will have more than 200 cities with populations of more than 1 million people, the report says.
Such growth will require huge increases in use of energy, water and materials that will force China to adopt new, environmentally friendly technologies, it said.
China and the United States are urged to make real progress in pushing ahead with collaboration on clean energy projects as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Beijing in November.
But government support is key, says Richard Gledhill, global leader of Climate Change & Carbon Market Services in London for PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy that helped head the research.
According to the US International Energy Agency, holding climate change to just a 2 degrees Celsius increase over the next two decades will require 9 trillion US dollars in extra spending, he says.
"The private sector has a key role to play in delivering the required investment at the scale required to avoid dangerous climate change. But it will only do this if there is a clear, long-term policy framework to underpin prospects of a reasonable return," Gledhill says.
While such changes are needed worldwide, China's rapid growth and dizzyingly fast urbanization are contributing to a building boom that has created more than twice the floor space as in the US.
About 18 million people migrate from rural areas to the cities each year, so that by about 2050 China will have more than 200 cities with populations of more than 1 million people, the report says.
Such growth will require huge increases in use of energy, water and materials that will force China to adopt new, environmentally friendly technologies, it said.
China and the United States are urged to make real progress in pushing ahead with collaboration on clean energy projects as President Barack Obama prepares to visit Beijing in November.
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