Rhein on Energy and Climate

Archives for English

The desperate efforts of finance ministers across the world to balance their budgets also produces some positive effects on the global climate. This is most visible in the recent moves towards phasing out subsidies on fossil fuels in developing and developed countries. These subsidies have been huge, in the order of more than $ 300… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

A recent Financial Times/Harris Poll is revealing on citizen’s preferences for government spending in the US and the five biggest EU countries. Contrary to common assumptions, citizens are afraid of big budget deficits. More than two thirds of those interviewed consider them as harmful to the economy. Even if there are differences between countries (Italy… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

An EU C02 Tax?

The EU Commission is rediscovering a very old acquaintance: an EU C02 tax. 20 years ago it has been the starting point for European climate policy. But the Commission proposal in the early 1990s failed to rally the necessary unanimity of the 12 member states that made up the Union at that time. This led… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

In six months the 190-odd contracting parties of the International Framework Convention on Climate Change (IFCCC) will meet in Cancun (Mexico) for its 16th session since its creation in 1992. Their track record has been deplorable. Neither the unending number of expert and ministerial meetings, often in exotic places, nor the Kyoto Protocol has done… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Outside the oceans tropical forests constitute the biggest carbon reservoir on earth. 289 billion tons carbon are sequestered in all forests on earth, and 0.5 billion tons of carbon are lost every year through net deforestation. It is of crucial importance for the global climate to maintain the present stock of forests for the indefinite… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

Global energy demand – and C02 emissions – is expected to double by the middle of the century as a result of rising population and per-capita consumption. Such a development is unsustainable: • Climate change will prevent humanity from continuing along the energy pathway of the past. Business as usual will put the very existence… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein

At the insistence of the Spanish presidency, the EU high Level meeting with the four Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) has decided to reopen negotiations on a free trade agreement, which had been suspended in 2004 after five years of unsuccessful negotiations. Negotiations are to be resumed before the end of June. From… » read more

Posted by Eberhard Rhein