EU In Disarray Over Future Climate Policy

Discussions on the European Union’s nehttp://canadafreepress.com/admin.php?S=0&D=cp&C=content_publish&M=entry_form&channel_id=1gotiating position at upcoming UN climate talks ended inconclusively last night (25 October) because of divisions over whether tradeable emissions allowances should be carried over to the next period of the Kyoto Protocol. Poland’s environment minister said after yesterday’s meeting that he had the support of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia in wanting credits to be carried over. --Dave Keating, European Voice, 26 October 2012

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EU talks to agree tactics ahead of an international climate summit in Doha next month ended in disarray on Thursday, after coal-dependent Poland led opposition to more ambitious attempts to curb atmospheric pollution (sic). “We have not moved at all,” an EU official said on condition of anonymity. “The lack of agreement could endanger a second commitment period.” --Barbara Lewis, Reuters, 26 October 2012 Germany is dumping electricity on its unwilling neighbors and by wintertime the feud should come to a head. The power grids in Eastern Europe are stretched to their limits and face potential blackouts when output surges from German wind turbines. “The Germans are using our infrastructure in an excessive manner,” CEPS board member Zbynek Boldis said in an interview in Prague. “At this point they’re getting a free lunch.” --Ladka Bauerova and Tino Andresen, Bloomberg, 26 October 2012 Concerns are mounting that the government’s crucial Energy Bill could be subject to a delay, after industry sources confirmed they had been told not to expect publication of the bill until mid-November, while some are speculating that it could yet be put back until December. The prospect of any delay to the bill will further fuel speculation over whether the Lib Dems have been able to secure Treasury support for both the inclusion of a decarbonisation target for the power sector in the legislation and the creation of a government-backed company to guarantee long-term financial support for low carbon power projects. --James Murray, Business Green, 25 October 2012 It’s quite plain that the great bulk of this brutal price hike comes directly or indirectly from renewable power and energy-efficiency efforts. In other words, it comes from compulsory government programmes intended to cut our national carbon emissions. Just remember that, then, the next time you hear a politician stigmatised as a climate scpetic. A vote for that politician is a vote against this sort of vicious price rise, this sort of stealth tax targeted on ordinary folk who find their energy bills a significant cost – the sort of hit that most of us will find pretty painful, given the current economic climate.--Lewis Page, The Register, 26 October 2012

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