EU Environment Council 29th October 2001
Link to full text of Environment Council
Conclusions (in french - translation not yet available)
CLIMATE CHANGE CONCLUSIONS
The Council has adopted the following conclusions in view of the 7th Conference
of the Parties (COP7) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change which will take place in Marrakech from 29th October to 9th November
2001.
1. " The Council takes note with deep concern of the latest IPCC (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change) synthesis report, approved in September, which confirms
that the human induced increase in globally averaged surface temperature over
the period 1990 to 2100 is projected to be about two to ten times higher than
the central value of observed warming over the 20th century. This report also
predicts that climate change will exacerbate water shortages in many water-scarce
areas of the world, is projected to increase threats to human health, alter
ecological productivity and biodiversity and increase the risk of hunger in
vulnerable populations. The impacts of climate change will fall disproportionately
upon developing countries and poor persons within all countries, and will lead
to changes in GDP estimated to be negative for most countries.
The IPCC stresses that substantial low cost mitigation opportunities exist and
that mitigation and adaptation actions can, if appropriately designed, advance
sustainable development and equity both within and across countries and between
generations.
The Council considers that this report should give to all Parties a new sense
of urgency to finalise the Bonn agreement, to implement the Kyoto Protocol and
to take further action to achieve the objective laid down in Article 2 of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
2. The Council welcomes the Bonn Agreement on the implementation of the Buenos
Aires Plan of Action, which paves the way for ratification and entry into force
of the Kyoto Protocol by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
Today, the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) opens in Marrakesh,
the first one to be held in an African country. This session should mark the
successful conclusion of the negotiations which were started in Buenos Aires
three years ago, and the beginning of the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol,
which is of crucial importance in the run-up to the World Summit on sustainable
development.
The Council welcomes the progress made in the elaboration of a package of draft
decisions on the implementation of the various aspects of the Bonn agreement
which must be finalised at COP 7 in Marrakesh. In doing so, the European Union
calls upon all Parties to respect strictly the Bonn agreement and to maintain
the political consensus and the spirit of co-operation that prevailed in Bonn.
3. In order to complete the set of operational rules necessary for the implementation
of the Kyoto Protocol, consensus on the procedures for promoting compliance
and addressing non-compliance as well as on adequate and effective rules for
the operation of the Kyoto mechanisms, is required in Marrakesh. An integral
part of this work will be agreement on the rules governing methodological issues,
reporting and reviewing of information provided by Parties, consistent with
the agreement on compliance, mechanisms and sinks.
The new bodies, whose establishment was agreed in Bonn, should be made operational
without delay. The Council considers that the election of the Executive Board
of the Clean Development Mechanism and the appointment of the Expert Group on
Technology Transfer will be key outcomes from Marrakesh and will constitute
concrete steps to make the Clean Development Mechanism operational and to promote
further action in the field of technology transfer.
4. The Council welcomes the progress made in Bonn on assistance to developing countries. In this respect the Council recalls the Joint political declaration by the European Community and its Member States and Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland on financial support to developing countries. The Council welcomes the agreement to establish a Special Climate Change Fund, a Least Developed Countries Fund and a Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund, and looks forward to a positive report from the Global Environment Facility at COP 8 on arrangements for these new funds to ensure that they become operational as soon as possible.
Recalling its conclusions of 10 November 1999 and 11 November 2000 and the joint
declaration on Climate Change adopted by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers on
11 May 2001, the Council invites the Commission to bring forward proposals on
how to better integrate climate change in the Community Economic and Development
Co-operation Policy, taking into account all the relevant aspects of the Bonn
Agreement. The objective is to find ways, through dialogue with the EU’s
development partners, to support their efforts of addressing climate change
when, at the same time, aiming at sustainable development, including poverty
alleviation and prioritising social and economic development. Responses to climate
change should be firmly based on specific priorities and needs of individual
developing countries.
Similarly, the Council invites the Commission to bring forward proposals relating
to the integration of climate change issues into the Community's co-operation
programmes with countries with economies in transition.
5. The Council reiterates its concern that emissions from international aviation
continue to increase rapidly without any limitations under the Kyoto Protocol.
Urgent action remains necessary to curb this expected growth in emissions. The
Council welcomes that some progress was made at the 33rd session of the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly towards the elaboration of international
measures to control emissions from international aviation, and urges ICAO's
Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection at its December meeting to set
a clear time schedule for the adoption of such measures by the ICAO Council.
The Council notes that ICAO Assembly Resolution A33-7 endorses the establishment
of an open emissions trading system for international aviation and that it calls
on the ICAO Council to formulate guidelines for such a system.
The Council stresses that in order for this system to be compatible with the
Kyoto Protocol, it will be necessary to submit international aviation to emission
limitation and reduction commitments and to establish a methodology for allocating
emissions to Parties. Therefore, the Council considers that this question should
be examined by the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice
jointly with ICAO. The Council recalls the need for further development with
ICAO of practical guidance on the use of voluntary mechanisms and gaseous emissions
related levies as soon as possible, as concluded by the Transport Council on
4 April 2001, while taking into account the economic, environmental and competitive
impact of such measures. The Community and its Member states intend to continue
to work actively in all relevant fora in order to reach the necessary decisions.
Finally, the Council recalls that it agreed in its common position on the 6th
Environmental Action Programme that the Community should identify and undertake
specific action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from aviation if no such
action is agreed within ICAO by 2002.
Maritime transport and international inland navigation has an important role
to play in finding a better modal transport split and its low CO2 emissions
per tonne / kilometre mean that it should be developed further as an alternative
to more polluting modes of transport, whilst also promoting the use of environmentally
friendly technologies and fuels. Nonetheless, maritime transport's share in
total CO2 emissions is significant (ca 2%) and these emissions may well increase
even further, since fuel consumption from international navigation is expected
to rise by 1 to 2% per year if no measures are taken. It is therefore important
to identify policies and measures that will be effective in this sector, not
least by improving the efficiency of vessels and reducing their unitary emissions.
The Council therefore welcomes the efforts being made by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and urges Member states to contribute to the Working Group to be established at the 47th meeting of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee in March 2002. It urges the IMO to make expeditious progress towards adopting actions for limiting or reducing emissions of greenhouse gas emissions from ships. To that end the Council would welcome the adoption of a clear time schedule by IMO for finalising its work on such actions at the 47th meeting of IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee in March 2002 in London, with a view to approving a concrete and ambitious strategy for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the 23rd Session of IMO's Assembly in 2003.
6. The Council welcomes the presentation by the Commission of a proposal for
a Decision on the conclusion by the Community of the Kyoto Protocol. It stresses
the Community's and its Member States’ resolve to complete their ratification
procedures in time for timely ratification with a view to entry into force of
the Kyoto Protocol by the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
In the context of the European Community’s determination to meet its’
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, the Council has repeatedly underlined
the need for Common and Co-ordinated Policies and Measures, inviting the Commission
to come forward with concrete proposals.
The Council welcomes the presentation of the Commission Communication on the
implementation of the first phase of the European Climate Change Programme,
as an important step in the process of developing a strategy aimed at implementing
the European Community’s Kyoto commitments and encourages the Commission
to continue to make progress and to propose concrete policies and measures to
the Council without delay.
In this light, the Council is appreciative to the Commission for presenting
a proposal for a framework Directive for an EU greenhouse gas emissions trading
scheme.
The Council welcomes initiatives to strengthen the exchange and dissemination
of scientific information and to promote the effective use of EU climate change
research capabilities in support of climate policies. The Council invites the
Commission to facilitate such initiatives.
7. The Council welcomes that a UNFCCC Workshop on Good Practices in Policies
and Measures was held in Copenhagen, 8-10 October 2001, as part of the process
on policies and measures which was agreed on by all Parties at COP 6, and which
will be formally decided upon by COP 7. The Council is grateful to the governments
of Denmark and Norway for organising and funding this workshop.
The workshop demonstrated the benefits of exchanging experiences of the design
and implementation of domestic policies and measures for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions in several specific areas and the possible co-ordination thereof
between Parties.
The Council strongly supports the continuation of the 'policies and measures'-process
in the framework of the climate change negotiations and is therefore looking
forward to further specific actions to be taken following the formal adoption
of the agreed draft decision by the COP. "
The Council also heard a presentation from Commissioner Wallstroem on the 3
texts adopted by the Commission on 23rd Oct 2001:
A proposal for a decision on the ratification by the Community of the Kyoto
Protocol;
A proposal for a directive establishing an emissions trading system for co2
A communication on the implementation of the European climate change programme
The presentation was followed by a first exchange of views by the member states
on the proposals put forward by the Commission.
According to DMI, the findings "suggest that the basic structure of
the climate system is changing. One possible explanation is that the
atmosphere, because of global warming, contains more water vapour today
than at the beginning of the 20th century."
DMI analysed 40 precipitation series from 1900-1990 in Denmark,
Belgium, Britain, Norway and Sweden. Exceptional readings that could
not be explained by natural variations in atmospheric circulation over
the North Atlantic accounted for about half the total increase in
precipitation.
The findings have been published in English in the scientific journal
Climate Research.
Follow-up: DMI http://www.dmi.dk/, tel: +45 39 15 75 00, and press
release http://www.dmi.dk/vejr/aktuelt/200110231430/nedb.html. See
also Climate
Research Vol. 17, pp 263-274
Mr Trittin instructed competent bodies in all German states to report
on the quality of management practices as part of a drive for full
accountability. He also stressed that operator EnBW would not be
allowed to restart Philippsburg's second reactor until all doubts over
its reliability had been completely eliminated.
EnBW's woes started when it was revealed that Philippsburg's second
reactor had been operated for several weeks this August with
insufficient levels of boric acid in four "flooding tanks," which
are
meant to slow down the reactor in an emergency.
This week the government was informed that, in addition, the flooding
tanks had contained significantly less water than they were supposed
to, and that this situation had repeatedly occurred over 17 years.
What made these lapses in security particularly serious, said Mr
Trittin, was that EnBW had at all times acted consciously and had
neither sought to remedy the situation, nor inform regulators.
Follow-up: German environment ministry press release
http://www.bmu.de/presse/2001/pm755.htm.
The report follows a first profile of EU greenhouse gas emissions to
1999 issued by the EEA this spring, in which it recording a 4% fall
from 1990 to 1999, fully half of which was achieved in the single year
1998 to 1999 (ED 20/04/01
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=9751).
Wide variations in sectoral performance are confirmed in the update
report. Most notably, transport emissions grew by 20% over the period,
adding a massive 140m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent and
negating big reductions in several other sectors. The other main
increase was reported for hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) from industrial
processes, which rose by 65% or 17m tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Though still the single largest greenhouse gas emitting sector, energy
industries recorded the largest single fall of 103m tonnes of CO2 or
9%. The chemical industry more than halved its emissions of nitrous
oxide, recording a fall of 62m tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Manufacturing
industry CO2 emissions fell by 8% of 56m tonnes.
Further significant emission cuts were achieved in methane releases
from solid waste in landfills - down by 22% or 30m tonnes of CO2
equivalent - and fugitive emissions of methane from solid fuels - down
by 53% or 27m tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
The report also presents detailed figures on emission trends for each
EU member state, including indicators of progress relative to Kyoto
protocol targets. Year-by-year data on key activities such as energy
consumption, cement production and population of farm animals are
included, plus policy indicators such as the volume of passenger
transport, petrol prices, number of households and use of nitrogenous
fertilisers.
Follow-up: EEA http://www.eea.eu.int/, tel: +45 33 36 71 00, and
report http://reports.eea.eu.int/topic_report_2001_10/.
Richard Jackson of the confederation of British industry (CBI) said
the initial reaction was of "concern and disappointment" that a
three-year "learning-by-doing" period of EU trading from 2005 would
be
mandatory rather than voluntary.
Early drafts of the European Commission's proposal had offered the
possibility of exempting some industry sectors during the lead-in
phase. But despite protests from industry groups and objections from
enterprise commissioner Erkki Liikanen, this "opt-out" clause was
removed in the final document (ED 23/10/01
http://www.environmentdaily.com/articles/index.cfm?action=article&ref=10871).
The Commission's proposed approach raises "fundamental questions"
over
the compatibility of the EU scheme with the UK's one, according to Lee
Solsbery of consultancy ERM, which has been advising government and
business on the British initiative.
Similar noises have come from German industry, which already has a
series of voluntary CO2 agreements with government and is thought
likely to push for ministers to restore the possibility of opt-outs
when they respond to the Commission's proposal.
European electricity industry association Eurelectric has also
expressed concern over what it claims is a lack of flexibility in the
EU scheme, particularly in the lead-in phase.
Despite criticisms like these, Commission officials remain adamant
that the EU proposal is the right way forward. Mandatory inclusion of
all firms in specified sectors would result in greater environmental
benefits. Both British and German firms should benefit in the long run
from being able to sell emissions allowances on the international
market, sources told Environment Daily.
Environmental groups such as Climate Network Europe (CNE) are also
fully behind mandatory participation. CNE's only complaint now is that
the Commission is proposing to grant emissions allowances free of
charge during the scheme's first three years, whereas it prefers
auctioning of all allowances.
Follow-up: CBI http://www.cbi.org.uk/, tel: +44 20 73 95 82 47; ERM
http://www.ermuk.com/, tel: +44 20 74 65 76 50; Eurelectric
http://www.eurelectric.org/; +32 2 515 1000; CNE
http://www.climnet.org/, tel: +32 2 231 0180.
MOSS LANDING, California -- Deep-sea animals may be highly
sensitive to environmental changes in carbon dioxide concentration
and pH, the predicted consequences of deep-sea carbon
sequestration. A study by researchers, reported in the 12 October
2001 issue of Science, exposes the need for more research on the
biological impacts of CO2 injection in the ocean. In a survey of
the relevant literature, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
(MBARI) marine ecologist Brad Seibel and his colleague Patrick
Walsh of the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and
Atmospheric Science summarize how deep-sea animals respond to the
physiological stress caused by increased carbon dioxide in their
environment.
"We set out to synthesize and disseminate what is known about
deep-sea life physiology in the context of the environmental
changes that are likely to result from carbon sequestration," said
Seibel. "Increasing CO2 causes a decrease in seawater pH, creating
an acidic environment that must be compensated for by
physiological responses in living organisms." Decreased pH can
result in metabolic suppression which can inhibit growth and
reproduction. Previous studies have established that deep-sea fish
and invertebrates have low metabolic rates. Consequently, they
lack the metabolic machinery required to compensate body fluid pH
changes. Seibel and Walsh describe how even small changes in pH
can impact these organisms.
International agencies are investigating deep-sea carbon
sequestration as one possible mitigation technique for emissions
of carbon dioxide, one of the primary greenhouse gases involved in
global warming. MBARI chemists have conducted some of the first
experiments aimed at understanding the chemistry and physics of
CO2 in the deep ocean. New biological studies are now underway to
investigate the ecological effects of CO2 sequestration.
"Many deep-sea organisms are extremely sensitive to environmental
change. We need more studies to characterize the extent and method
of CO2 injection to predict the broader consequences on deep-sea
ecosystems and the global biogeochemical cycles dependent on
them," said Seibel.
"I am now in touch with the ministry of foreign affairs and the office
of the attorney general to examine whether we have grounds in
international conventions and international law to bring a case against
the British," Børge Brende told Dagbladet newspaper today.
"This is an issue of the utmost importance to us," he continued.
"Discharges of the radioactive substance technetium 99 threaten our
food supply. Fish is Norway's second largest export business. We
cannot sit still and watch our coastal areas being polluted."
Calling for a meeting with his UK counterpart, Michael Meacher, "as
soon as possible", Mr Brende also cited the controversial mixed oxide
(MOX) nuclear fuel manufacturing operation at Sellafield as further
cause for concern, particularly as it represented "a potential
terrorist target".
The minister said he hoped to intensify joint Scandinavian pressure on
the issue at a meeting of Nordic ministers in Copenhagen next Tuesday.
His statements, which have been widely reported throughout the region,
follow recent reports that lobsters caught off the Norwegian coast have
registered increased levels of radioactivity.
Follow-up: Dagbladet http://www.dagbladet.no/, tel: +47 22 31 06 00.
23rd Oct 2001 - the European Commission adopted a major package of initiatives
to combat climate change. It comprises;
proposal for the EC to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol;
draft Directive on greenhouse gas emissions
trading within the EU;
Communication setting out further
measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Commission thereby reaffirmed the EU's commitment to bring the Kyoto Protocol
into force before the World Summit on Sustainable Development ("Rio+10")
in Johannesburg in September 2002 and meet its Kyoto target. The package will
be presented to the Environment Council on 29th October.
Follow up: see CNE pages on:
Ratification
Emissions trading in the EU
European Climate Change Programme (ECCP)
Further reports:
ENDS Daily
First in the firing line are the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants at
Sellafield in Britain and La Hague in France, following alarming
estimates of potential radioactive releases in the case of an aircraft
collision similar to those on 11 September.
According to a report by consultancy Wise-Paris released late last
month, the potential release of caesium-137 from La Hague's irradiated
fuel cooling ponds is 60 times the amount released in the 1986
Chernobyl accident in Ukraine. This month, Britain's New Scientist
magazine reported the potential caesium release from Sellafield at 44
times that released from Chernobyl.
These dire forecasts were taken up in a debate in the European
parliament today, with Irish Green MEP Nuala Ahern calling for "no fly
zones" to be established around both plants. "Nuclear plants are a
ticking time bomb in our midst and the only logical response is to
close them all down and end this terrible threat," she argued.
Even strongly pro-nuclear European states have had their nerve tested
by the realisation that reprocessing and other nuclear plants could be
terrorist targets; the French government last week said that
anti-aircraft missile batteries were to be stationed at La Hague.
In Germany, the effect has been to cement or even speed up the ongoing
nuclear phase-out programme, culminating in media reports this weekend
that economic minister Werner Müller has called on power firms to phase
out their oldest stations ahead of schedule. This follows a pledge by
environment minister Jürgen Trittin to order plant closures in case of
a credible threat of attack
The new sense of insecurity has pervaded protests from the Irish
government and UK environmental groups over the British government's
decision to licence a new plutonium fuel manufacturing plant
Austrian protests against the Temelin nuclear power station in
neighbouring Czech Republic have also been given new wings just as the
plant is moving towards full power for the first time.
Only the nuclear industry itself appears oblivious to the sands
shifting under its feet, with European association Foratom continuing
to focus its arguments on nuclear's potential to avoid greenhouse gas
emissions at a conference in Brussels earlier this month.
Follow-up: Wise-Paris La Hague Briefing
http://www.wise-paris.org/english/intro/ournews/news2.html
'GREEN' EQUIPMENT PLEDGE DROPPED
European Voice, The Economist
18 October 2001
PLANS to boost public spending on energy efficient equipment have
been dropped, in a move environmentalists warn could undermine the
credibility of Europe's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol on global
warming. A pledge to introduce new binding rules on public
procurement will not feature in European Commission proposals for
the ratification and implementation of Kyoto to be tabled next
Tuesday (23 October), after appearing in earlier drafts. Green
groups say the measure would have strengthened the EU's hand at
the next 'COP7' round of international climate talks taking place
in a fortnight in Marrakech, Morroco. "Public procurement is at
the core of Europe's credibility on climate change," said Stephan
Singer of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF). "When you consider
that public spending accounts for 15-25% of natural resource
consumption in the EU, we could have achieved a lot with a
directive on energy efficient products. And if Europe wants to get
Japan, Canada and Australia to ratify [the protocol] it would have
been useful to show that emissions cuts can be achieved with
public measures."
An early version of the communication by Margot Wallström, the
environment commissioner, stated that the EU executive was
"envisaging a directive" which would "require procurement of
products or services with the best environmental ratings". The
directive would have forced local authorities across the EU to
take energy efficiency into account when buying equipment or
services. Current rules on procurement allow but do not oblige
public purchasers to consider environmental factors - and only to
a limited extent. But the opposition of Internal Market
Commissioner Frits Bolkestein was made clear last week by his
deputy head of cabinet, Laurs Norlund, and no mention is made of
the directive in the final communication.
Environmental groups are pleased with the package, which includes
a long-awaited proposal for a market-friendly emissions trading
system to allow firms to buy and sell permits for the release of
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. "The EU was opposed to
emissions trading in initial Kyoto discussions while the US was in
favour of it," said Jos Delbeke, head of the Commission's climate
change unit. "Now the irony is that the US is out [of the
protocol] and we're now the world leaders in emissions trading. We
are now also more convinced about the merits of cost-effective
policies." The measures also aim to double the fraction of the
EU's electricity produced by low-emissions 'combined heat and
power' plants, to reach 18% by 2008.
See also CNE, GP WWF letter to Commissioners
Internal European Commission disagreements over a future carbon
dioxide emissions trading scheme have delayed planned approval today of
a major EU package of climate change measures. As well as emission
trading, this should have included proposals to ratify the Kyoto
protocol and for new steps to cut greenhouse gases based on
recommendations from the European climate change programme (ECCP).
The measures' non-appearance generated a loud protest from MEPs in the
Green/EFA group, who claimed the delay would dent Europe's reputation
as a leader on global climate issues. Sources in the Commission
stressed that all three elements were still expected to emerge before
the COP7 climate conference kicks off Marrakech, Morocco, later this
month.
The emissions trading dispute centres on how much flexibility member
states should have to exempt industry sectors from the scheme's
cap-and-trade requirement. Environment commissioner Margot Wallström
wants very limited exemptions, while enterprise commissioner Erkki
Liikanen is fighting for firms to be able to opt out much more freely,
at least during the first three years.
Mr Liikanen's stand may have been prompted by protests by employers'
association Unice. "How a [trading] scheme is introduced in Europe is
of crucial importance for the viability and competitiveness of
companies," it said in a recent letter to the Commission. Unice wants
participation to be voluntary early on, "compatibility" with existing
emission reduction commitments, and for trading to be allowable in all
six "Kyoto" gases.
The plan for ECCP follow-up measures sets out a series of new
initiatives to be proposed by the Commission over the next 24 months.
Environment Daily has obtained a draft of the communication (see link
below).
As well as the contentious emission trading scheme, it includes a
directive on bio fuels promotion to be proposed later this year.
Before mid-2002 these should be followed by a regulation on the
industrial greenhouse gases, or "F-gases" and a directive promoting
combined heat and power.
Also by this time, the Commission is to launch a public awareness
raising campaign and a "campaign for take-off" including a series
of
targets for numbers of low-energy buildings and households' use of
low-energy appliances and lightbulbs.
In the second half of 2002, the plan envisages proposal of an energy
services directive and another on energy efficiency public procurement,
plus further development of the EU's system for monitoring greenhouse
gas emissions.
A directive linking the Kyoto protocol's "project-based mechanisms"
to
the EU emission trading scheme should emerge by mid-2003. In 2002 or
2003, there should be a proposal for an integrated pollution control
"bref" note on energy efficiency.
"There is a serious risk that we will experience a backlash where
these economic problems will overshadow long-term questions of
environment and sustainable development," Ms Wallström told Dagens
Nyheter newspaper in her native Sweden, adding that such a reaction
must be resisted.
The minister said her work on an eagerly awaited package of measures
for complying with the Kyoto protocol, to be released tomorrow, had
helped concentrate her mind on the economic repercussions of 11
September, particularly as her EU brief includes civil preparedness.
"To date, this has mostly concerned how we should protect ourselves
from... natural disasters and the like," Ms Wallström said. "Now
we
have to look at how we protect ourselves from catastrophes deliberately
inflicted by people." Her proposals on civil preparedness are expected
before the end of the year, Dagens Nyheter says.
The Pacific nation of Tuvalu has secured New Zealand's agreement
to accept an annual quota of its citizens as refugees. They want
to leave Tuvalu because they say rising sea levels are driving
them out. Tuvalu says the cause of the rise is climate change,
which it blames for other environmental problems. And it has
condemned Australia for refusing to follow New Zealand's example.
The exodus of Tuvaluans is likely to start in 2002, though the
number of islanders who will leave each year has not yet been
announced. The two governments expect the scheme to operate for
the next 30 years or longer, possibly until 2050.
Tuvalu also asked Australia to help, but to no avail. Paani
Laupepa is assistant secretary of Tuvalu's Ministry of Natural
Resources, Energy and Environment. He told BBC News Online: "While
New Zealand responded positively in the true Pacific way of
helping one's neighbours, Australia on the other hand has slammed
the door in our face. "Its justification is to compare Tuvaluans
with the asylum seekers trying to enter Australia illegally."
Tuvalu is a group of nine islands lying about half-way between
Hawaii and Australia. It forms part of the archipelago known
formerly as the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. With a total land area
of 26 sq kms, and a population of a little over 10,000 people, it
is one-tenth the size of Washington DC.
Wild weather
Tuvaluans are convinced that climate change is already a reality
for them, and point to several problems they blame on rising
global temperatures. Paani Laupepa told BBC News Online: "We have
coastal erosion, droughts, and in the last decade we have also
experienced an unusually high level of tropical cyclones. Salt
water intrusion is becoming a problem, and this has affected our
traditional food crops. "Perhaps the most pronounced effect of
climate change that we are actually seeing is the flooding of low-
lying areas. A couple of decades ago the flooding was not so bad
as last year's, and to us living on the atolls, this is an
increasing sign of the times."
And Mr Laupepa was bitterly critical of the US for abandoning the
international agreement on how to tackle climate change, the Kyoto
Protocol. He told BBC News Online: "By refusing to ratify the
protocol the US has effectively denied future generations of
Tuvaluans their fundamental freedom to live where our ancestors
have lived for thousands of years."
Rising tides
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says it
expects global sea levels to rise by between 20 and 90 cms this
century, and to rise further after that. If it proves right the
consequences could be severe not only for island states like
Tuvalu, but also for low-lying countries like Bangladesh, which is
predicted to lose about 17% of its land to the sea. The IPCC
represents a broad scientific consensus on climate change. But
some scientists say our understanding of climate processes is
still far too rudimentary to be certain that a problem exists.
They argue that natural climate variability may explain what is
happening, and that human activities may be making little or no
difference.
By Peter Calamai
OTTAWA - Striking new evidence from 70 million years ago has
removed a major question mark hanging over the link between global
warming and greenhouse gases. The evidence from fossil marine
shells indicates that carbon dioxide not only is the global-
warming villain now, but also has been in the past, when the Earth
warmed from natural sources. The research suggests strongly as
well that the current global warming could lead to even more
intense and frequent tropical storms than predicted. These
conclusions arise from the revelation this week that scientists
studying a key aspect of the Earth's past climate have probably
blundered for several decades.
Research team leader Paul Pearson reports in the current issue of
the scientific journal Nature that he and other paleoclimate
experts were misled by their fossil "thermometers," the preserved
shells of tiny sea creatures called foraminifera. Using these
fossil thermometers to reconstruct temperatures, many experts
concluded that the tropics were as much as 10C cooler than today's
temperatures during two periods of natural greenhouse warming
roughly 40 million and 70 million years ago. But this evidence of
supposedly cool tropics clashed with the output from computer
climate models that provide the ammunition for proposed cuts in
fossil-fuel consumption to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases.
No feasible combination of winds and ocean currents in the models
managed to produce cool tropics in a greenhouse-warmed world.
"There's been a big mismatch between the climate models and the
data," said Pearson, a professor in the department of earth
sciences at the University of Bristol in Britain. This mismatch
led scientists to question whether or not carbon dioxide really is
the universal global-warming villain. Pearson's group says the
climate models are right and the temperatures from the fossil
thermometers are wrong. That's because leaching liquids and
pressure on ocean floors subtly changed the chemical make-up of
the tiny foraminifera through millions of years, throwing the
thermometer scale out of whack.
The research team was able to set the record straight using
foraminifera from Tanzania in East Africa that had been encased in
protective mud under water and only recently shoved to the surface
by geological upheaval. Canadian paleoclimate expert Tom Pedersen
said the research provides more confidence in the computer climate
models. "These results put another arrow in the quiver with
respect to the urgency of dealing with carbon-dioxide emissions
and global warming," said Pedersen, a professor at the University
of British Columbia who directs a worldwide research program into
past climate change.
But the University of Ottawa's Jan Veizer, who has said average
global temperatures actually dropped as carbon dioxide levels rose
during some periods in the geological past, cautioned this latest
research might not resolve the cold tropics debate.
12th Oct 2001
By HISANE MASAKI
Staff writer
After months of wavering and foot-dragging, Japan will seek ratification of
the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming during a 150-day ordinary
Diet session that is to open in January, government sources said Thursday.
The long-awaited move by the world's second-largest economy -- which ostensibly holds the swing vote on the future of the landmark environmental pact in the wake of the United States' withdrawal -- will likely kick the protocol into force by the end of 2002.
The sources said that Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa already instructed senior officials of government ministries concerned to make behind-the-scene preparations for domestic measures, including legislative changes, that would become necessary for Japan to implement the pact.
Among the ministries are the Environment Ministry; the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; the Foreign Ministry and the Cabinet Legislation Bureau.
The sources said that Furukawa and the senior government officials are expected to meet later this month at the Prime Minister's Official Residence for the first time in nearly 12 weeks to accelerate preparations for the Kyoto Protocol's ratification and new domestic measures, including amendments to environmental protection-related laws.
The sources said, however, that a decision to submit the protocol to the Diet early next year for ratification will not be made final until after the forthcoming 7th Conference of Parties to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP7, which will be held in Marrakesh, Morocco, for 12 days starting Oct. 29.
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted at COP3 in Kyoto in 1997, sets legally binding targets for industrialized countries to slash their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 percent by 2012.
The figures are based on 1990-level emissions.
It obliges Japan to curtail gas emissions by 6 percent, the U.S. by 7 percent and the 15-nation European Union by 8 percent.
But in a move that sparked an international outcry, the Republican administration of U.S. President George W. Bush announced in spring that it will withdraw from the protocol.
The Bush administration criticizes the pact as "fatally flawed," claiming it would hurt U.S. economic growth.
At the resumed COP6 in Bonn in July, signatory countries to the 1992 U.N. framework convention reached a long-awaited agreement on some complex nonemissions-reducing mechanisms for helping industrialized countries meet their targets. But adoption of a text containing the agreements was left to COP7.
No major industrialized country has yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol because of the delay in reaching agreements on "sinks," "emissions trading," and other loopholes to aid the industrialized countries' greenhouse gas-reduction efforts.
The EU has said it will seek to have the Kyoto protocol put into place by the end of 2002 -- the 10th anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro where the framework convention was signed -- even without U.S. participation.
Japan has so far been ambivalent. While expressing a desire to see the protocol put into place for fear of being branded as a prime culprit for the effective death of the protocol, Japanese government officials have said publicly that they will continue attempts to persuade the U.S. to return to the pact before deciding on ratification.
There is still a strong view within the government that without the involvement of the U.S. -- by far the Earth's largest polluter, accounting for a quarter of carbon-dioxide emissions -- the protocol will do little, if any good, to curb global warming.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and domestic industries are also concerned that Japanese companies will be put at a competitive disadvantage if they -- and not U.S. firms -- shoulder an additional financial burden of fulfilling greenhouse gas-reduction obligations.
But after Japan won most of the concessions it had wanted from the EU over the target-achieving mechanisms, continuing to balk at ratifying the protocol has become diplomatically difficult, the sources said.
For the Kyoto protocol to become effective, at least 55 signatory countries -- including developing nations -- to the 1992 U.N. framework convention must ratify it. In addition, the ratifying industrialized countries must account for more than 55 percent of the industrialized world's emissions.
The U.S. alone accounts for 35 percent of the industrialized world's emissions. Therefore, ratification by Japan, which accounts for nearly 10 percent of the industrialized world's greenhouse gases, is widely believed to be crucial to putting the protocol into effect.
Along with making necessary changes to environment-related laws, the government will have to work out support measures for domestic companies affected by implementation of the protocol and will also come up with new measures to slash ever-rising carbon dioxide emissions in the household and transportation sectors. These two sectors account for half of Japan's carbon dioxide emissions.
The industrial sector accounts for the remaining half.
The Japan Times: Oct. 12, 2001
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush yesterday urged the Democratic-controlled
Senate to move quickly to pass a broad energy bill that would open an Alaskan
wildlife refuge to oil drilling, saying the legislation was an important part
of domestic security.
Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided over whether an energy package
should include drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a wilderness
area on Alaska's northern coast.
"I urge the Senate to listen to the will of the senators and move a bill,"
Bush told reporters after a White House cabinet meeting. "The less dependent
we are on foreign sources of crude oil, the more secure we are at home."
The deadly Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center have focused new attention on energy legislation. The United States, which has launched bombing raids on Islamic militant targets in Afghanistan, must import more than half its daily oil consumption.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives in August passed an energy bill that would open the Alaskan refuge to oil drilling as well as other measures to boost domestic supplies of natural gas, coal and electricity. They contend that only 1.5 million acres (607,500 hectares) of the Arctic refuge's 19 million acres (7.7 million hectares) needs to be opened to exploration to reduce U.S. reliance on oil imports.
DEMOCRATS HALT SENATE PANEL WORK
Earlier this week, the head of the Senate Energy Committee abruptly ended the panel's work on a broad bill at the request of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, said leaders felt the bill was infringing on the jurisdiction of other committees and that time was running out to complete work on it.
Instead, in an unusual move, Senate Democrats will bypass the committees and try to take a comprehensive energy bill directly to the floor before Congress adjourns. Lawmakers are expected to recess next month.
Republicans criticized the move, saying Democrats were simply trying to prevent the legislation from opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
A Reuters survey of Senate Energy Committee members shortly before the Sept. 11 attacks indicated the panel would approve drilling in the Alaskan wildlife refuge with the likely crossover votes of Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii. Both are Democrats.
60 SENATORS FAVOR ALASKA DRILLING
Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho said Thursday 60 senators were prepared to vote for a bill to allow drilling in the Arctic refuge.
Senate Republicans plan to introduce their own comprehensive energy bill by early next week, he said.
The Republican bill would open the refuge, promote clean coal technology, impose energy efficiency standards for appliances and help poor families pay their energy bills.
"I believe there is ample time to do a national energy policy" before Congress adjourns, Craig told reporters during a briefing at the National Press Club.
Republicans echoed the president's link between domestic security and oil drilling.
"As Americans come together to confront threats to our way of life, we can't overlook the relationship between national security and energy security," said House Majority Whip Tom Delay, Republican of Texas. "There's no time to wait. The Senate needs to act now."
An aide to Bingaman said the senator is "working expeditiously" to finalize a bill, but he refused to speculate when the legislation would be presented to Senate leaders.
As for Bush's call for the Senate to pass a energy bill, the Bingaman aide responded: "That's good news from President Bush. We share his sense of urgency."
Most Republican lawmakers want to open drilling in the Alaska refuge, saying oil exploration and production could be done safely in a way that would not harm the environment.
Democrats oppose the move as a short-sighted step that would not produce any oil for at least five years. They prefer efforts to improve conservation, such as stricter fuel mileage requirements for new sport utility vehicles and minivans.
Democrats control the Senate, 50-49 with one independent.
Lawmakers of both parties have sought in recent days to write separate legislation to fund military patrols, upgrade computer software and take other security measures for the nation's pipelines, oil refineries and electric power plants.
"We spent a lot of time talking about homeland security, and an integral piece of homeland security is energy independence," Bush said.
Story by Julie Vorman
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Greenpeace Statement on Bush Energy Policy
By John Passacantando, Executive Director
The decisions the Senate makes on energy policy in the next few weeks and
months will shape this nation’s environmental and national security for
generations to come. Lawmakers should not rush to pass a controversial
energy plan during this time of national emergency.
The Bush Administration energy agenda was introduced last spring with an
accompanying campaign to convince the public of an immanent energy crisis
that never materialized. The public, however, should look skeptically at a
plan that, in the name of addressing terrorism, will lock the United States
into an increasingly vulnerable fossil fuel and nuclear dependant future.
The Senate is currently considering energy policies that could:
* Open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling (the oil for which
is estimated to be a six month U.S. supply and will not be available for
eight years);
* Increase subsidies to fossil fuel companies, perpetuating U.S. dependence
on these mainly foreign sources of energy (The U.S. has less than three
percent of the world’s oil supply and consumes 25 percent of the world’s
oil);
* Subsidize the construction of vulnerable power supply lines and pipelines;
* Expand and prolong our dependence on unsafe nuclear energy; and
* Increase emissions of greenhouse gases, furthering dangerous changes to
our climate.
The Bush Administration energy plan means more pollution, more instability
and an ever-increasing reliance on foreign oil, regardless of how much we
drill domestically.
In the aftermath of September 11th, the possibility of attacks on the nation
’s nuclear power stations has been taken very seriously by U.S. law
enforcement. Given this threat, the energy plan should not include building
new nuclear power plants or relicensing old ones. Nuclear power is not a
safe or secure energy source.
Greenpeace advocates an energy plan that brings security and energy
independence with environmental security. The nation’s energy plan should:
* Promote massive investments in renewable energy sources, which create
clean jobs and cut pollution. Most renewable energy sources are
decentralized and invulnerable to disruption. Wind, solar power and biofuels
are safe, secure and 100 percent home-grown sources of energy.
* Focus on rapid increases in energy efficiency investments.
* Address global warming, the greatest environmental threat of the century.
If the U.S Senate takes the lead now, the United States can be well on the
road to energy security and independence within a generation.
-30-
CONTACT:
Gary Skulnik Media Officer Greenpeace 202-3192492 202-549-3212 (cell)
JOHANNESBURG - Britain's environment minister said yesterday he hoped the United
States would embrace global treaties such as the Kyoto climate pact in the new
diplomatic atmosphere created by the attacks on its soil.
"The lesson of September 11 shows that even the world's most powerful
country needs a global coalition," Michael Meacher said, referring to U.S.
efforts to forge a coalition to root out those behind suicide attacks that killed
more than 5,500 people.
"Only the U.S. stood out on Kyoto. Maybe the terrible events of September
11 will give it pause to remember its international obligations," Meacher,
who was in South Africa on a ministerial visit, told Reuters in an interview.
Meacher picked up on a theme raised by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said last week that a new world order based on cooperation in a wide range of areas was now possible.
"Out of the shadow of this evil (the U.S. attacks) should emerge lasting good. This is a moment to seize. Let us re-order the world around us," Blair told his Labour Party.
"We could defeat climate change if we chose to. Kyoto is right. We will implement it and call upon all other nations to do so," Blair said.
Britain has been Washington's staunchest ally in its military strikes on Afghanistan, which it accuses of harbouring Muslim militant Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in last month's devastating attacks with hijacked planes in New York and Washington.
The United States, the world's biggest producer of the greenhouse gases seen responsible for global warming, refused to sign an international pact struck in Bonn in July designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The deal aims to reduce greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
The U.S. has also rejected a draft protocol on a ban on biological warfare.
"We all need each other. The U.S. needs us and we need them. And we need the U.S. on the climate change (Kyoto) and germ warfare treaties," Meacher said.
THREAT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Meacher said climate change was the gravest threat facing humanity in the long term.
He noted that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts average surface temperatures to rise by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius in the period from 1990 to 2100.
"People may think a temperature change of five degrees is nothing but it is huge. The last ice age saw a global temperature drop of five degrees," he said.
Scientists have predicted a host of dire consequences linked to climate change, ranging from islands being submerged by rising sea levels to animal and plant species going extinct because of their inability to adapt to rising temperatures.
Story by Ed Stoddard
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
FRANKFURT - German wind park developer Energiekontor said yesterday it had
started building a wind park in Portugal, which will be among the country's
biggest and begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2002.
The firm said in a statement the wind park, called "Trandeiras,"
would comprise of 14 wind plants, each with 1.3 megawatt capacity, in the mountains
north of the harbour town of Porto.
It would have total capacity of 18.2 MW and an investment volume of 25 million
euros.
Energiekontor had already demonstrated an early start and an above-average track record in foreign expansions after a recently completed wind park in Greece had been hooked up to the power grid, analysts WestLB Panmure said.
Project developers needed to focus more strongly on foreign markets, as wind power sales in Germany's domestic market were likely to stagnate, they said.
Energiekontor has been active in Portugal since 1995.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
OSLO - Swedish power company Sydkraft said yesterday it had sold 100 gigawatt
hours of electricity with so-called green certificates to Dutch multi-utility
Neon.
Sydkraft said the deal was the first in which the company combined physical
power delivery with green certificates to the Netherlands. Green certificates
are granted to electricity produced in an environmentally friendly manner.
"We believe firmly in trading with green certificates and emissions quotas
in the future and our goal is to be among the leading players within these markets,"
Sydkraft's chief portfolio manager, Jonas Abrahamsson, said in a statement.
Both Sydkraft and Nuon are members of the Renewable Energy Certification System, which acts on a voluntary basis across Europe.
Sweden plans to introduce a green certificates trading system by 2003.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
The government's announcement is related to an ongoing fifth bidding
round for preferential electricity supply contracts and involves
linking 25% of offer prices to the consumer price index instead of only
10%. This would "allow the successful bidders some increases to match
inflation," said public enterprise minister Joe Jacob.
IWEA, however, complains that all renewable energies except wind can
already index link 100% of their offer price. According to Aidan Ford,
the increase to 25% in the current bidding round is therefore "simply
tinkering around the edges of the problem".
Mr Ford also accused the government of over-optimism in predicting
success for the current bidding round, which has a target of bringing
255 megawatts of renewables capacity online
Since there is no penalty for not following through on contracts, many
of the offers so far received were "speculative," Mr Ford claimed.
Experience in the third bidding round proved this, he said; despite
there having been a penalty, three-quarters of successful bidders never
actually built additional generation capacity.
Follow-up: Irish Dept of Public Enterprise press release
http://www.irlgov.ie/tec/press01/october5th01.htm;
IWEA
http://www.iwea.com/index1.html
BERLIN - A German nuclear reactor was closed temporarily on the weekend following
government outrage at a new report of an incident in August that it says raised
serious doubts about safety procedures at the plant.
Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said Energie Baden-Wurttemberg AG had
agreed voluntarily to the shutdown of one of two reactors at Philippsburg, near
Karlsruhe, and it would last several days.
Ministry sources said the company was also likely to be fined several million
marks.
"This move is the right and unavoidable consequence of the fact the atomic energy authority has raised lots of questions about safety measures at the plant," Trittin told reporters after talks with company executives.
"The length of the shutdown is not a question of hours or days," Trittin added, saying the plant would only reopen once all questions relating to the incident, revealed in a report last week, were answered.
The 1.4 megawatt pressurised-water reactor, in use since 1984, was operated for two weeks in August following a routine refuelling with a fault in its back-up cooling system, the ministry said. Once discovered it took staff at the plant some days to realise the full extent of the fault.
At no time was there a real security risk, the state of Baden Wuerrtemberg said in a statement.
Nuclear power is a controversial issue in Germany, which since 1998 has been ruled by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens. The government force the industry last year to agree to gradually phase out the country's 19 operational reactors over the next 25 years or so.
The Greens, of which Trittin is a member, made an end to nuclear power a condition of their participation in government.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - American consumers' love of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles
reduced the average fuel mileage of all 2001 model year vehicles to 20.4 miles
per gallon, the lowest in two decades, the U.S. government said yesterday.
The Environmental Protection Agency's assessment of 2001 vehicle mileage came
as Congress struggles to write a broad energy bill to boost supplies of U.S.
oil and lessen dependence on imports.
The EPA annual report evaluated the fuel efficiency of 2001 model cars, as well
as the class of vehicles known as "light trucks" - pick-ups, vans,
minivans and sport utility vehicles.
"The lowest fuel economy since 1980 can be attributed to the increase in light trucks on America's roads," the EPA said in a statement. "Light trucks are less fuel efficient."
Model year 2001 sport utility vehicles averaged 17.2 miles per gallon (mpg), pick-up trucks 16.5 mpg, and vans and minivans 19.3 mpg. Cars average 24.2 mpg, the EPA said.
The average of all 2001 model vehicles was 20.4 mpg, it said.
By comparison, the average fuel efficiency for all 2000 model vehicles was 24.0 mpg, according to the EPA data from last year's "Fuel Economy Trends" report. That included 28.1 mpg for passenger cars and 20.5 mpg for all pick-ups, minivans, vans and sport utility vehicles.
AUTOMAKERS TO VOICE CONCERNS
If auto manufacturers increased fuel economy by as little as 3 miles per gallon, consumers would save as much as $25 billion a year in fuel costs, the EPA said.
That modest increase in fuel efficiency would also reduce 140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year and cut the United States' reliance on foreign oil by 1 million barrels of oil each day, it said.
The nation consumes about 20 million barrels of petroleum every day, with more than half imported.
On Friday, the National Academy of Sciences will hold a special hearing to hear automakers' complaints about a July report on how the industry could make vehicles more fuel-efficient.
The independent science panel concluded in its report that Detroit could increase the mileage of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, pick-up trucks and cars by 16 to 47 percent over the next 10 to 15 years.
Scientists on the panel said the fuel savings could be achieved through lighter weight vehicles, but acknowledged that may increase the risk of injury in traffic accidents.
The report stopped short of calling for specific increases in fuel efficiency. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said the report overestimated its members' ability to improve gas mileage.
CONGRESS MULLS ENERGY LEGISLATION
The nation's current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were adopted by Congress in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo. The standards require passenger cars to get an average 27.5 mpg and light trucks to get 20.7 mpg.
At that time, light trucks were allowed to get lower mileage because they were used mostly by farmers and small businesses. Now, sport utility vehicles and other light trucks account for half of all U.S. vehicle sales.
In August, the U.S. House rejected a plan to require automakers to raise the fuel efficiency of all light trucks. The House approved a broad national energy package that would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and boost supplies of natural gas, electricity and coal.
The Democratic-controlled Senate, which has yet to finish writing its energy bill, is expected to order the Transportation Department to find ways to hold overall fuel consumption by vehicles at a set level rather than specifying mileage standards for automakers.
But a fight is brewing in the Senate over a Republican-backed plan to open the Arctic refuge to drilling, which many Democrats oppose.
The EPA said it would soon issue a fuel economy guide evaluating specific 2002 model year cars, trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles.
Story by Julie Vorman
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Cold appliances such as refrigerators and freezers are major
electricity consumers, according to the "Cold II" consultancy report;
they currently account for 17% of residential usage and give rise to
1.7% of all EU CO2 emissions. Efficiency levels have improved
significantly during the 1990s, driven by EU rules, but much more could
be achieved.
The study proposes changes to a 1994 directive on energy efficiency
labelling of cold appliances plus a 1996 directive setting minimum
energy performance standards. The former took effect in 1995,
introducing the now well known A to G rating system, and the latter in
1999.
On labelling, the report concludes that the current scheme has been
overtaken by technological progress. It has also been undermined by
the 1999 performance standards, which effectively outlawed most
appliances rated below C. The consultants therefore recommend
upgrading the labelling range from 2002.
Compared with a benchmark average appliance efficiency in 1990 of
100%, the report says, the average in 1999 used only 75% as much
energy. It proposes raising the lowest G grade efficiency threshold
from 125% currently to 80% and the highest A grade from 55% to 30%.
The consultants go on to recommend strengthening energy performance
standards in 2005 from the current 88% to 55%. It is notable that this
would recreate the current situation in which appliances to the lower
end of the labelling range would become illegal.
A third key recommendation is for a voluntary agreement to be
negotiated with industry to set an average efficiency target of 46.8%
across all appliances, to be achieved by 2005. The consultants
calculate that this is the efficiency level that provides "least
life-cycle cost" for the consumer, taking into account higher
manufacture and purchase costs and lower running costs.
Though the labelling and minimum performance standards proposed in the
report would be a challenge to industry, the consultants are confident
that both are achievable. They also stress that recent experience
suggests that the resultant CO2 savings will have been achieved at
negative cost.
Follow-up: European Commission energy and transport directorate
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/index_en.html, tel: +32
2 299 1111. Copies of Cold II are available from PW Consulting,
paulwaide@compuserve.com
In its latest review of a member country's energy policies, the IEA
warns that Belgium must implement "strong policy measures" if it is
to
meet its Kyoto protocol greenhouse gas reduction target of 7.5% from
1990 emission levels. Current emissions are 15% above this baseline.
Top of the list of steps needed, it says, is to harmonise green
certificate schemes being introduced in a bid to take renewable energy
in Belgium from 1.9% of supply currently to 3% by 2004.
Under Belgium's federal structure, the three regions of Flanders,
Wallonia and Brussels have responsibility for implementing the target.
Each has set up its own green certificate scheme, none of which is
compatible with the others or with a planned federal scheme.
"It doesn't make economic sense not to have a trading system," Lea
Gynther of the IEA and principal author of the report told Environment
Daily today. Allowing wider certificate exchanges within Belgium would
provide a much bigger overall boost to renewable energies. Just last
week the Netherlands announced it was to start recognising green
certificates from other countries
Speaking at the report's launch in Brussels today, energy minister
Olivier Deleuze said his country's situation was "regrettable" and
urged the European Commission to rule it illegal under an ongoing
investigation into the Flemish scheme. "I hope, and I think, that
[competition commissioner] Mario Monti will forbid me from going down
this dead-end road," he said.
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 146
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 26, 2001
ADOPTED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 14, 2001
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 12, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 5, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Senators Perata, Bowen, Chesbro, Escutia, Karnette,
Kuehl, Murray, O'Connell, Ortiz, Sher, Speier, Torlakson, and Vincent
JUNE 27, 2001
Senate Joint Resolution No. 20--Relative to global warming.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SJR 20, Perata. Global warming.
This measure would memorialize the President of the United States
to take proactive steps to curb greenhouse emissions and urge the
President to sign the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.
WHEREAS, Average temperatures on earth have climbed more than one
degree Fahrenheit over the past century, while average temperatures
have increased only 5 to 9 degrees since the last ice age 10,000
years ago; and
WHEREAS, There is overwhelming scientific evidence that pollution
released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities
significantly contributes to this phenomenon of global warming; and
WHEREAS, If we continue current rates of pollution and releases of
greenhouse gases, scientists predict that the average temperature of
the earth will increase as much as 11 degrees this century; and
WHEREAS, Scientific evidence links global warming to increased
flooding, storms, droughts, and heat waves, which all have
devastating effects on the environment, agriculture, wildlife, and
public health; and
WHEREAS, Experts estimate that the current climate crisis requires
a 70-percent reduction of greenhouse gases to avoid catastrophic
effects on human existence; and
WHEREAS, Although the United States comprises only 4 percent of
the world's population, it produces 25 percent of all greenhouse
gases; and
WHEREAS, The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change sought to address climate change by
setting binding targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by
developed countries; and
WHEREAS, An effective emissions control program would not
necessarily cause a significant negative impact on our nation's
economy due to recommended technology and devices that would also
reduce the nation's dependency on fossil fuels; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature hereby declares its support for the
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, and strongly urges the President of the United States to take
proactive steps to curb greenhouse emissions and work with other
nations to address the increasing dangers of global warming; and be
it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.
Back to CNE Latest News Page
Mr Deleuze, who is also Belgium's energy and sustainable development
minister, said: "The time for non-committal stakeholder debate on
emissions trading is over; it is now the responsibility of policy
makers to reach decisions." He called for a "greening" of tax
policies
and warned that "closer co-operation between like-minded member states"
may be on the cards if unanimous agreement cannot be reached.
Speaking at the same conference, the chairman of the Intergovernmental
panel on climate change (IPCC), Robert Watson, urged governments to
treat climate change as a part of everyday policy making, encompassing
crucial sectors such as agriculture, industry and energy production.
During the conference the IPCC released a new synthesis report for
policy makers, summarising the main findings of its major "third
assessment report" on climate change issued in July
Dr Watson urged adoption of the precautionary principle to allow for
the inertia of climate change once it has started. "What we do in the
next 100 years could precipitate events in the next 1,000 years," he
said.
The synthesis report puts the costs of mitigating climate change
impacts at US$0.1 to US$20 per tonne of carbon in tropical regions and
from US$20 to US$100 elsewhere. GDP losses in OECD countries of Europe
would range from 0.31% to 1.5% in the absence of international carbon
trading. With full trading permitted, these would fall to between
0.13% and 0.81%.
Follow-up: IPCC synthesis report text
http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/SYR-text.pdf
and figures
http://www.ipcc.ch/pub/SYR-figs.pdf.
According to amended proposals recently circulated to other Commission
departments and obtained by Environment Daily (see below), member
states could exempt certain installations from trading for the first
three years, while the proposed fine for exceeding emission allowances
would be halved.
The directorate's first plans for EU carbon trading, floated earlier
this year, suggested limiting the scheme to power plants, oil
refineries and metal production sites, plus the cement, glass, ceramics
and pulp and paper sectors. Member states would be given free rein to
decide how and what quantity of emission permits to distribute (ED
None of this has changed in the new proposals, which the directorate
hopes to agree internally this month for formal adoption before COP7 in
Marrakech. But several new elements have been added to win over
industry, which forced a delay before the summer by complaining that
trading should be voluntary, at least the pilot phase (ED 29/06/01
The changes do not go this far but nevertheless represent a
significant concession. Until 2008 member states would be able to
temporarily exclude installations from the cap-and-trade umbrella,
provided that the plants were undertaking equivalent emission abatement
measures during that time.
Additionally, governments could issue extra permits to businesses
likely to exceed their original allowance due to "market conditions".
Both steps would be subject to Commission approval, however, and would
also need to be in line with EU treaty rules on state aid.
The proposed penalty for exceeding emission allowances has also been
slashed, from euros 200 per tonne of carbon dioxide to just euros 50
until 2008 and euros 100 thereafter, or double the average market price
of allowances if this is higher. In contrast, a new clause would
require public disclosure of businesses exceeding their allowances.
In a final major enticement for business the text proposes that during
the pilot phase member states may not charge for distributing emission
permits - thus ruling out an auction of allowances. This responds to
industry qualms that different allocation rules in member states could
distort competition.
See also CNE pages on Emission Trading in the EU
02/10/01
VIENNA - The opening of Austria's power market will lead to a rise in imports
derived from nuclear energy and undermine efforts to promote renewable energy
sources, a Green member of parliament said yesterday.
Speaking at a Euroforum industry conference, the Austrian Green party's parliamentary
energy spokeswoman Eva Glawischnig said polls showed the majority of the eight-million
population opposed these trends due to the associated safety risks.
"Polls show consumers favour non-nuclear suppliers suggesting that investments
in renewable energies will pay for themselves, albeit at a later stage,"
she said.
"There are no merits for Austrian companies in co-operating with foreign nuclear power players."
Austria threw open its 55 terawatt hours power market to competition yesterday, joining the top third of European Union countries with similar structures and inviting foreign players to expand their presence.
But Glawischnig said if consumers chose their suppliers based on price, this would clash with the country's anti-nuclear stance adopted since it had been highly damaged by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
Official data showed while Austria produced roughly 70 percent hydropower and 30 percent thermal power, with just 0.2 percent of alternative renewables such as wind and solar energy, nuclear energy imports already accounted for 8.9 percent of total use.
But environmental lobby Greenpeace believed the real figure was already closer to 12 percent as a result of the liberalisation process, which had taken place in stages since 1999, she said.
Meanwhile, research institute ISMA had found that 83 percent of Austrians did not want to buy nuclear-derived power even if it was cheaper, 74 percent were prepared to pay more for "ecological" power and 91 percent wanted strict labelling of power products, meaning the generating method would have to be declared.
Glawischnig said Austria had vast potential to expand its wind and biomass energy sectors, which was in line with EU Commission plans to diversify the bloc's energy mix.
But better promotion and funding was required to help achieve targest in national law had for the share of renewables (in addition to hydro) to be raised to four percent by 2007.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
Mr Deleuze, who currently chairs the EU's council of energy ministers,
was speaking at a conference in Brussels last week on liberalisation
and its effect on access to energy and the environment. The event was
organised by Belgium as current president of the EU.
The minister said the EU urgently needed more measures such as the
directive on energy efficiency in buildings, proposed earlier this
year. His comments were directed at energy commissioner Loyola de
Palacio, who is responsible for the dossiers and who was also present
at the gathering.
Belgian sources told Environment Daily that the comments reflected a
concern that the measures, which are on the Commission's work programme
and have been promised "imminently," might be delayed for political
reasons. "I think she [de Palacio] will wait till the Spanish
presidency [due to start in January] for many things," one said.
The two figures are politically poles apart and have a history of
confrontation. Last year Mr Deleuze, a Green, publicly warned Ms de
Palacio, a Conservative, not to use a green paper on energy supply as a
platform for her well-known support for nuclear power. The paper's
support for nuclear power was eventually watered down before its
release
Ms de Palacio pointedly used her speech to the conference to repeat
the need for a "real, dispassionate debate" on nuclear energy. Just
one day before last week's conference, she issued a press release
publicising the Commission's decision to issue infringement proceedings
against Brussels for failing to fully open its energy markets in line
with the EU's electricity liberalisation directive.
Follow-up: Belgian EU presidency http://www.eu2001.be/;
press release
http://www.eu2001.be/Main/Frameset.asp?reference=01%2D01&lang=en&sess=549819462&,
de Palacio speech
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/01/417|0|RAPID&lg=FR;.
N. PACIFIC CO2 ABSORPTION DOWN AS MUCH AS 10%
Kyodo News3 September
TOKYO, Sept. 3, Kyodo - The volume of carbon dioxide (CO2)
absorbed by the North Pacific has fallen as much as 10% over the
past 15 years as the rate of water circulation from upper to lower
levels has continuously dropped, according to a team of Japanese
researchers. Published in the latest edition of U.S. academic
journal Geophysical Research Letters, dated Saturday, the finding
is thought to be the result of higher sea temperatures caused by
global warming or natural climate change, the team said.
Oceans are able to absorb CO2 produced by industrial and other
human activities. The discovery is the first of its kind, it said,
adding that such a rapid decrease in the ocean's absorptive
capacity may also be happening in other sea areas. Yutaka
Watanabe, a Hokkaido University assistant professor, and his
fellow researchers took samples in 1999 and 2000 from across the
North Pacific, from sea level down to 6,000 meters. They also
studied the movement of currents in relation to the efficiency of
the ocean's absorption capacity.
Although the sea water circulation rate varies, it is basically
10-20 meters per hour, the team said, down from observations in
the same area during the mid-1980s by U.S. researchers. Watanabe
said the decrease can also affect the general flow of the sea and
its nutritive content, and can lead to a decrease in fish and
other organisms.
Speech by M. Deleuze, Belgian Minister for Energy and Sustainability at
“Delivering Kyoto : Could Europe do it ?”, Chatham House, London,
1 - 2
October
Implementing the Kyoto Protocol : A European Perspective
The Belgian Presidency of the European Union coincides with a crucial
period for the development of climate change and sustainable energy
policies in Europe and at the global level. In Bonn last July, I had the
chance of leading the European Union’s ministerial delegation at the
successful resumed 6th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP6bis). The Bonn Agreements
represented a significant political breakthrough, which paves the way for
the ratification and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, which had been
declared dead by President Bush only a few months earlier.
In Bonn, the determination of the vast majority of the international
community in the face of the seriousness of the climate change issue
prevailed over the temptation of unilateralism. The Bonn Conference showed
that it is still possible for states to reach multilateral agreements for
international governance in the common interest of humankind through
negotiation and compromise, with the participation of civil society. This,
in my view, is the proper response to the challenges of globalisation.
Climate change and the transition to a sustainable energy economy is the
most urgent and important test of the industrialised countries'
willingness to change their unsustainable patterns of production and
consumption, as they pledged to do in Rio in 1992. In the recent IEA
Statement on Sustainable Development, all member states of the
International Energy Agency, including the United States, recognized that
their economies are not presently on a sustainable energy path. They
stated: "The transition to a sustainable energy future will be complex
and
will take time. We need to change not only the structure of the energy
sector, but also behaviour in our societies and economies." Bringing the
Kyoto Protocol into force is the first but vital step in this transition,
which needs a legally binding multilateral framework to lock our energy
systems into a trajectory which should ultimately lead to sustainability
and protect the Earth's climate. This is no longer a matter of choice, but
of necessity. Bonn has shown that the Kyoto Protocol is not “fatally
flawed” but still represents the best available international instrument
for addressing the collective threat of climate change. It must now be
made to work in practice.
In the global climate change negotiations, the European Union was able to
show political leadership in the industrialized world through its firm and
united position, backed by the support of 15 Heads of State and
Government. But this is no time for complacency. We must now build on the
political momentum generated by the Bonn Agreements to complete the
translation of these agreements into legal texts and carry through the
process of ratification and implementation. The task ahead of us remains a
challenging one.
First of all, we must complete the negotiations on the legal texts
required for the implementation of all elements of the Bonn Agreements at
COP7 in Marrakech next month. The European Union is determined to uphold
the integrity of the political agreement reached in Bonn and expects other
negotiating partners to do the same. Further technical work is required to
finalize the operational rules for the Kyoto mechanisms and the guidelines
for reporting and accounting. The agreement on the basic principles of the
procedures and mechanisms to address non-compliance must be translated
into a detailed legal text. An effective compliance system is essential
not only for the environmental integrity of the Protocol but also for the
reliability and hence economic viability of the flexible mechanisms it
establishes. We must not allow ourselves to be sidetracked in Marrakech by
further haggling over the amounts of sinks credits that parties are
entitled to. The text negotiated in Bonn already allows ample accounting
for sinks. Methodologies must be refined and scientific uncertainties
further reduced before these rules can be reconsidered.
Together with the EU, Japan, Canada, Russia and Australia made significant
steps to make an overall compromise possible in Bonn. We hope that in
Marrakech they will continue to cooperate constructively with us in order
to finalize the work and remove any remaining doubts about their
determination to ratify the Protocol. EU Heads of State and Government
have already asked the European Commission to prepare a proposal for
ratification before the end of this year. It now depends on other Annex I
Parties whether the “critical mass” for entry into force will be reached
next year.
Like them, the EU regrets that the United States is not prepared to join
the Protocol. It will obviously be less effective without US
participation. But, as I have said in Bonn, the door remains open. In the
history of international environmental policy, no multilateral
environmental agreement with far-reaching commitments has ever secured
universal support from the start. But in order to make progress, some
members of the international community have to lead the way and initiate a
movement. As the evolution of the Montreal Protocol shows, international
environmental regimes are dynamic and international legal instruments,
once in force, can be expanded, amended and improved. This will no doubt
be the fate of the Kyoto Protocol as well. Over time, no major country
will be able to stay outside the movement and first movers will find that
they gained a competitive advantage in energy efficiency and technological
innovation.
Let me now turn from the international to the European agenda. Addressing
the challenge of climate change is not just a matter of bringing the
ongoing international negotiations to a successful conclusion in Marrakech
at the end of this month, and to proceed with ratification of the Kyoto
Protocol, but also of going ahead with the adoption of common and
co-ordinated policies and measures to curb our own emissions of greenhouse
gases in Europe. The EU's internal climate policy agenda is, indeed, just
as important as the global policy context.
The question you are expecting me to answer is : can Europe comply with
its Kyoto obligations ? Yes, I am convinced we can fulfil our commitments,
provided we act in a coordinated and determined manner internally like we
have on the international scene. We should put common measures in place
which enable us to take full advantage of our internal market and
technological potential and create the right structure of incentives to
promote innovation, energy efficiency and renewables. « Getting the prices
right » in order to make the market work for sustainable development is
a
crucial requirement, as EU Heads of State and Government recognized at
their Gothenburg summit. They have also recognized, in a declaration on
climate change of 16 July 2001, that, although the latest figures indicate
that total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU fell by 4% between 1990 and
1999, additional action at EU level and by the member states is needed.
Since Bonn, the EU has already taken one important new measure. On 7
September, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Directive on
the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the
internal electricity market. This legal instrument is designed to
influence the supply side of the energy sector so as to cut down our
greenhouse gas emissions. The overall objective it sets for electricity
produced from renewable sources is to reach 22% of gross electricity
consumption by 2010; this means 12% of total gross domestic energy
consumption. It requires member states to set national targets in
accordance with their national circumstances and consistent with the
overall EU objective, and to take all appropriate steps to encourage
greater consumption of electricity produced from renewables in order to
reach those targets. It introduces a harmonized system of guarantee of
origin for electricity produced from renewable energy sources, which will
enable consumers to opt for “green power” in our liberalized internal
energy market. Informed consumer choice will provide a powerful incentive
for producers. As the Energy Council already stressed in its conclusions
on climate change of 11 May 1998, we need to ensure that "liberalised
markets operate in a manner which promotes environmental objectives while
at the same time promoting competitiveness and consumer interests".
Last year, the European Commission launched the European Climate Change
Programme (ECCP), a multi-stakeholder effort, to further develop
cost-effective measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors
of the European economy. The report of this programme; released last July,
shows that the total technical potential of cost-effective reduction
options is twice as large as the total emission reduction effort required
from the EU by the Kyoto Protocol. As the ECCP has shown that it is
feasible to achieve our Kyoto targets cost-effectively, we must now
collectively muster the political will to move quickly from study to
action. The final report of the ECCP identifies no less than eight options
for common and coordinated policies and measures as sufficiently mature to
be decided upon and implemented soon. The Belgian Presidency has
encouraged the Commission to present concrete proposals for measures based
on the results of the ECCP to the Council without delay.
The first new measure resulting from the ECCP which is already moving
through the EU legislative process is the proposal for a Directive on the
energy performance of buildings. As President of the Energy Council, I
decided to give this proposal priority consideration, as I regard measures
aimed at cutting energy demand as having the greatest potential in terms
of the struggle against climate change. The aim of the proposed Directive,
which is to reduce energy consumption in new and renovated buildings, has
great significance for the EU's energy conservation and climate change
policy, as 40% of energy consumption in the European Union is attributable
to buildings. Our aim is to reach political agreement in the Council on
this proposal in December.
Another major initiative identified as mature by the ECCP is the proposed
Framework Directive for a Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading
Scheme. The establishment of a harmonized framework for emissions trading
within the EU is indeed one of the instruments that will enable the EU and
its member states to jointly fulfil their Kyoto commitments. This is a
promising tool to address climate change in a cost-effective way, by
making full use of market mechanisms. In this field, Europe should move
forward in a coordinated way in order to exploit the advantages of the
internal market and avoid distortions of competition. The Green Paper
published by the European Commission last year has provoked lively debate
and mixed responses from various stakeholders and sectors of the economy.
But the time for non-committal stakeholder debate on emissions trading is
over; it is now the responsibility of policy-makers to reach decisions. By
establishing an internal emission trading system before the Kyoto Protocol
’s first commitment period, the EU could gain valuable experience and
know-how, which will enable our enterprises to take full advantage of the
Kyoto mechanisms once they become operational globally.
By submitting a formal legislative proposal to the Council before COP7,
the European Commission could further demonstrate the EU’s commitment to
the implementation of the Protocol and give an important political signal
to other Annex I parties which have strongly advocated emission trading
and other market mechanisms in the Kyoto framework, but have so far failed
to take domestic action to put such mechanisms in place. The Belgian
Presidency has already informed the Commission that this will also be one
of the priority dossiers on its agenda, if only the proposal is issued
early enough.
Other legislative proposals are currently being prepared by the Commission
within the framework of the ECCP. A considerable energy savings potential
of between 22 and 40 % of final energy consumption has been identified.
Much of this potential can be realized at negative or zero life-time
costs. EU measures such as a directive on energy efficient public
procurement and a directive on energy efficiency standards for electrical
equipment would contribute substantially to unlocking this potential.
In order to achieve our Kyoto targets, it will be necessary to use the
most effective combination of policy instruments available at the national
and European level and to ensure that all sectors of society contribute to
the collective effort. I have already mentioned emission trading and
legislative measures. I would also like to recall in this context the
importance of fiscal measures as an indispensable component of the overall
"toolbox" of measures that will be required to increase energy efficiency
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The European Commission exercised
true political leadership in 1992, when it submitted its first proposal
for CO2/energy taxation to the Council. Unfortunately, the Council has so
far failed to act on the successive Commission proposals in the field of
energy taxation. These important proposals are still on the table, and the
Belgian Presidency intends to put the issue of a "greening" of tax
policies back on the Council's agenda. If unanimous agreement cannot be
reached, we will have to consider the possibilities the Treaties provide
for closer cooperation between like-minded member states.
Back to CNE Latest News Page
The Commission also unveiled draft rules for an EU-wide carbon dioxide
emissions trading scheme. As proposed, the scheme would not allow
member states to exempt from trading any of the facilities in
industrial sectors set to be covered. In a third climate initiative,
the EU executive laid out additional measures it will propose in the
first two years of the European climate change programme (ECCP).
Though the EU has always maintained its intention to ratify Kyoto,
today's formal proposal to do so will provide the EU with a
psychological advantage going into next week's COP7 climate talks in
Marrakech. Once adopted by governments, it will make legally binding
the burden-sharing agreement negotiated by environment ministers three
years ago as a way of implementing the EU's 8% greenhouse gas reduction
commitment
All member states should ratify the protocol in time for the UN to be
notified of their collective action before 14 June 2002, the Commission
says. This will mean the agreement entering into force for the EU
ninety days later - on the last day of the Johannesburg meeting at the
latest. So far three countries - France, Denmark and Netherlands -
have parliamentary approval to ratify, while Belgium is on the verge of
securing it.
In adopting an emissions cap-and-trade scheme with no opt out clause
for industry sectors or individual facilities, and no government
bail-outs of additional permits to facilities in trouble, even in the
three-year lead-in phase from 2005, the Commission has backed Margot
Wallström in a dispute with her industry counterpart Erkki Liikanen
which prevented formal appearance of the proposal last week
Mr Liikanen had argued for more flexibility for firms, at least during
the lead-in. He was responding to pressure from German industry, which
claims the plan will disrupt existing voluntary climate agreements, and
the UK, which fears the EU scheme will be incompatible with its own
national initiative, due to go live next year.
Under the EU proposal, member states will be free to allocate
emissions allowances to firms, though the allocation plan will be
subject to Commission scrutiny. During the lead-in phase the permits
will be free. The Commission is to propose a harmonised allocation
mechanism in 2005, for operation from 2008.
Sectors to be covered include power generation, refineries, iron and
steel, coke ovens, cement, glass and ceramics, pulp and paper and any
combustion installation over 20 megawatts capacity. Chemicals and
waste incinerators are exempted. Fines for exceeding emission
allowances would start at euros 50 per tonne in the lead-in, and euros
100 thereafter.
In its proposals for a series of follow-up measures under the ECCP the
Commission has made several changes from earlier drafts, though plans
for a directive on cogeneration and a regulation on fluorinated gases
remain
The idea of a directive on energy efficiency in public procurement has
fallen by the wayside, however; originally pushed by the Commission's
energy directorate, this was opposed by internal market commissioner
Frits Bolkestein. A second planned directive on energy services will
now focus more widely on energy demand management.
Meanwhile, a draft biofuels directive, expected imminently, could be
split into two, with a first proposal setting minimum market share and
a later one allowing tax breaks
Also added to the programme is a proposal for a framework directive on
minimum efficiency requirements for end-use equipment, scheduled for
proposal next year. It is not clear whether this replaces a commitment
to forward a directive on energy efficiency in electrical appliances,
due under the Commission's work programme to happen later this year.