Preliminary figures released yesterday show that the EU's carbon dioxide emissions grew by 1-1.5 per cent in 2006, despite the bloc's rhetoric about the need for reductions. The data so-far released – which covers 93% of installations covered by the EU emissions trading scheme – shows that participants emitted less than their quota of free permits, hence the rise in actual emissions.
According to the Guardian, Stavros Dimas, the EU's Environment Commissioner, told scientists from the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change yesterday that "Only EU leadership can break this impasse on a global agreement [post-Kyoto] to overcome climate change". The article notes that “What Mr Dimas knew - but did not tell the scientists, apparently - is that the EU's programme for cutting carbon, its two-year-old emissions trading scheme (ETS), remains in disarray.”
The Guardian notes that "Mr Dimas and his officials deliberately released the raw data early - without analysis or interpretation - to avoid last year's debacle, when premature release of national statistics brought a disorderly collapse of the market. This year the full, sifted figures will be released on May 15."
Yes - but that's probably not the only reason they wanted to spike the story...
I believe it was Johann Hari of the Indy that stated:
ReplyDelete"The commitment last week to ensure that the EU derives 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020 is on this issue the boldest move by any government, anywhere".
I hate bold moves. Results matter.