Brazil Cuts Energy Taxes To Revive Economy

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff plans to cut and simplify taxes for electricity producers and distributors, two senior officials told Reuters, as part of a strategy to reduce Brazil's high business costs and stimulate its struggling economy. Brazil has the world's third-highest power costs, and Rousseff is aiming to give relief to consumers as well as companies in energy-intensive areas such as steel and petrochemicals. Internal government studies suggest that, depending on which taxes are cut, electricity costs could fall by between 3 and 10 percent starting as early as 2013, the officials said. --Brian Winter, Reuters, 16 May 2012

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A recent study estimates that the Germans will soon have to reckon with dramatic price rises in their electricity bills. According to the study, electricity cost for households will doubled in ten years. The rising costs are due to the expansion of renewable energy as well as the necessary grid expansion and the subsidization of solar and wind power. In early May, a study by energy experts at McKinsey suggested that electricity consumers would face 21.5 billion Euros in costs in 2020 caused by the transition to renewable energy. "We already have the highest electricity prices in the EU today," said Bechtold. --Deutsche Presse Agentur, 15 May 2012 William Hague, the foreign secretary, has warned the prime minister that Britain’s green technology companies and potential exports are being undermined by the failure of ministers to make the case vigorously for low carbon growth. In a private letter to David Cameron, Mr Hague urges him to promote “a stronger narrative on low carbon growth”, which he argues will help persuade potential customers such as China to embrace a new economic model. Mr Hague pleaded with Mr Cameron to take the lead by making a speech on the subject; in the event the prime minister’s long-heralded “green speech” was downgraded. --George Parker, Financial Times, 16 May 2012

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At least two cabinet colleagues have responded to Hague's letter: Ed Davey, the energy and climate secretary, and Vince Cable, the business secretary. Both Liberal Democrats appear to sound a more cautious note than the foreign secretary, insisting that any push on the low carbon economy must "fairly represent the costs involved alongside the benefits" in order to be "credible". Cable also warns that without an international accord on cutting emissions – something currently overseen by the United Nations – "we need to watch the impact of our climate policies on UK competitiveness more broadly". --Juliette Jowit, The Guardian, 16 May 2012 India and the U.S., on Tuesday, held talks on weaning New Delhi away from dependence on Iranian oil and while both sides stated their known positions on the issue, one positive outcome of the talks, which were wide ranging in nature and not focussed just on Iran, was the possibility of India importing shale gas in liquefied form from the U.S. --The Hindu, 15 May 2012 Coal use will rise an estimated 13.5 percent in Germany this year, resulting in at least 14 million metric tons of additional carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, even as the nation continues to idle two-fifths of its nuclear power fleet. Instead of accelerating emissions cuts, the ironic economics of the carbon trading system have justified a return to coal in Germany and elsewhere, as a glut of emissions permits drives down the cost of carbon pollution and makes coal highly profitable once again. Some German greens have gone so far as to claim Germany literally "has the right" to eschew nuclear in favor of much greater emissions levels than necessary. So much for the extreme urgency of climate mitigation. --Jesse Jenkins, The Breakthrough Institute, 11 May 2012 Variations in ozone in the lower stratosphere could be the main reason for the global warming seen in the past few decades, according to a new paper in press at the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics. It is claimed that the new model is capable of explaining 82% of the total Earth temperature variability. --David Whitehouse, The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 15 May 2012

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