At the heart of the EU's attempts to reduce industrial carbon dioxide emissions is its Emission Trading Scheme. And lest we forget, the idea was gradually to increase the cost to industry of emitting CO2 to atmosphere, thereby to incentivise investment in emission reduction equipment and procedures.

In theory, the price of the EU permits was supposed to increase, providing a ratchet effect, forcing a gradual reduction of emissions in line with the piece increase.

View full article here

Or to know what she would consider a failure.

Better put ... I'll change the piece.

Richard,

Help is at hand. SR radio news reported this morning that the closure of eight German nuclear power stations is expected to push up the price of carbon dioxide indulgencies by roughly £4.50 per metric tons of CO2. That's good news, isn't it.
.....
But the German economic growth is supposed to save the euro. Hm, something does not quite compute. Well, I guess they have a solution for that as well. Or maybe not....

I wonder if they have resolved the fraud problems.

2013 will see the beginning of a new phase in the ETS. Until 2012 each member nation is working to their own national allocation plan. After that it is a 7 year plan set by the EU centrally. That will perhaps make it more attractive to fraud and maintain the pressure on the EU organisation to cover up the consequences of it. In the case in Richard's previous article linked to above the theft of emissions permits and resale of them resulted in Brussels insisting that the owners who had their permits stolen cannot be told who now owns them.(And presumably retained ownership of those stolen goods)

Even more amusingly the French Socialists and Greens have got together and made a pact about nuclear energy to ensure the election of Francios Hollande as President next year.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 82158.html



What might this mean in practise:-



Interesting. How many European countries rely on French nuclear power to cover peak demand. If there is no spare capacity in France we could be looking at brownouts across Europe, say when a high pressure zone settles over the continent in the middle of winter. My impression is that even the closure of one plant permanently might be enough to tip the balance. These people don't want an economy do they?

But UBS has just produced a report showing that green policies have cost $287 Billion and has produced "almost zero impact" on cutting carbon emissions, and has warned that the EU's carbon pricing market is on the verge of a crash next year.
In a damning report to clients, UBS Investment Research said that had the $210bn the European ETS had cost consumers been used in a targeted approach to replace the EU's dirtiest power plants, emissions could have been reduced by 43 per cent "instead of almost zero impact on the back of emissions trading".
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Via Benny

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 6203068972

I guess that France will have to learn the hard way......effing morons.

It doesn't help that the scheme is riddled with massive frauds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenh ... t-5bn.html

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busines ... 5842148852

and the certificates have been forged.

Another big top-down scheme, completely inflexible and with all sorts of unintended consequences. Also it's a market created by governments, in things no one would want unless they were forced to. Ultimately we pay for this as it puts up the price of everything and drives jobs to places where the foolishness is seen for what it is.

What us not said enough, perhaps, is that this is the sort of thing from which parliament should protect us. It thus represents a major failing of parliament.

You are 100% correct - they don't.

I have been following the 'global warming' madness since the late 80's when I read an article pointing out that the majority of scientists predicting future warming were those same scientists who in the 70's had been predicting global cooling and that 90% of greenhouse gases came from termites.

I know all the fallacies, a subset of which are humorously illustrated here http://wattsupwiththat.com/climate-fail-files/the-gore-a-thon-on-wuwt/

However, I only came across the idea of 'CONTRACTION & CONVERGENCE' recently (maybe I've been missing something) and the fact that this is fundamental to the notion of the UK reducing its CO2 emmissions by 80% by 2050 and is encapsulated within the Climate Change Act.

The details behind this are here http://gci.org.uk/ and should be required reading if you want to understand that ruining our economy to deliver 'sustainable consumption' is the whole point not an unfortunate by-product of their policies.

or particularly here as it relates to the Climate Change Act http://gci.org.uk/climateact.html

Easily the most unfathomable and daftest single piece of fkcuwittedness, of all of the madness associated with EU 'policy' [UN inspired Kyoto protocol]. In its [EU] manic adherence, to the fiction of man made global warming, is carbon emissions trading, if anything was so designed to diminish and even end European industrial competitiveness - this was it [do these commissars/twats ever think anything through?].

The trouble is, even as the EU-ETS is disappearing up its own fundament [at long last].

Along comes our very own monster raving loony, our minister for energy [DE+CC] wants Britain to go it alone, a unilateral carbon pricing scheme initiated in the near future [1-2 years] and if this isn't government 'inspired' deliberate industrial suicide, then what is?

And behind Huhne, stands the Green Tosser, a stalwart and unbending ally - time to have a break....................

For that to happen there has to be a debate in parliament with distinctly different points of view argued. When the debate consists of the government proposing something barmy with blandishments about green jobs and so on, and the opposition parties' argument is that the government's proposals are not nutty enough, this is hardly a debate. The act was passed with about 6 dissenters. All the more serious when it involves taking ruinous unilateral action which really can't solve the problem it's supposed to solve anyway.

It's pretty clear that the whole of the political establishment was behind this, the TUC, the CBI and all the usual suspects and had collectively disappeared on a brain holiday.

It strikes me that Westminster and the rest still haven't gotten over the loss of empire and are motivated by anything which can be presented as "Britain leading the way"; "leading the way on climate change", "leading the way in Europe" or "Britain becoming and aid superpower". Shame they can't lead the way on anything sensible which they could mainly do by getting out of the way.

It's like watching a five year old kid being put in charge of a household budget. Most of the money spent on toys and sweeties, the food budget is for chips and beefburgers. Shame about the gas bill.

1. Two years and two months ago we were being really creamed on global warming/climate change.
Public not with us. MSM and Westminster Bubble thought us nutters.
We were two laps behind in a four lap race.
It is extraordinary how we have got on terms, been vindicated, become respectable mainstream opinion.

2. Dr North used to be 3 years ahead of the msm on key matters. Now he is only 18 month to 2 years ahead. This is healthy stuff indeed. The trend is most welcome. When he is merely a few days ahead, we will be winning. It is a hopeful sign.

3. The other good news is The Guardian is losing £100 k a day. It can not last at this rate. More effort to see it off is needed by bloggers. A Guardian free UK would be freedom indeed.

Britain free of the EU organ of propaganda, aka the beeb would be even better.