| Author (Person) | Carstens, Karen |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.25, 8.7.04 |
| Publication Date | 08/07/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Karen Carstens Date: 08/07/04 BUSINESS leaders and environmental campaigners have produced starkly divergent criticisms of the first approvals by the European Commission this week of national emissions allocations to combat global warming. The European employers organization, UNICE, warns in a report released today (8 July) that European businesses might suffer because of the EU's "go-it-alone" policy on climate change. "The EU must review its strategy thoroughly at the 2005 Spring summit," said UNICE President Jürgen Strube. "Unilateral implementation of Kyoto by the EU makes little sense in environmental terms, but could have serious consequences for European industry's competitiveness." Stephan Singer, head of the climate and energy policy unit at the World Wide Fund for Nature's European policy office, said that while the "architecture" of the EU's planned emissions trading system was solid, its "fundamental flaw" was that member states had been tasked with crafting their own plans. He said that the national action plans should be replaced by an EU-wide scheme. "What we now have is like a board game where everyone is rolling the dice," he said. The upshot, he added, was likely to be a distorted carbon market that benefited neither industry nor the environment. The first phase of EU emissions trading is supposed to begin in January next year. Singer said that industries which used a lot of energy, including the chemicals and steel sectors, plus governments such as the UK that had originally pushed for the "national allocation plans" (NAPs), had in ongoing policy dialogues started coming round to the idea of an EU-wide system, Singer said. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said yesterday (7 July) that she was launching infringement proceedings against Italy and Greece for failing to submit their plans. Those from Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden had been accepted without reservation, while plans submitted by Germany, the UK and Austria were approved under the proviso that certain technical adjustments would be made. Climate Action Network this week criticized the national allocation plans as "overly generous", saying that they did not put Europe in line to fulfil its Kyoto obligations. The EU-15 were supposed to submit their NAPs by 31 March and the ten new member states when they joined on 1 May. Only half have done so thus far. The Commission will not evaluate any more plans until September. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Environment |
