"J.D. Giorgis" submitted:
> Kyoto rescued?
> Jul 26th 2001
> >From The Economist print edition
> <snip>
> Yet the pact will impose
> costs on Europe's industries that will not be faced by
> their American (and maybe Japanese) rivals. Will they
> tolerate this?
*This* is why Kyoto can never succeed - as soon as any government tries to
tell its countries industries to spend incredible amounts of money on
emissions, knowing this is going to make those industries uncompetitive
against non-conforming rivals in other parts of the world, they face a
terrible backlash. The only way they can do this is to water down and delay
the implementation to such an extent that it becomes meaningless.
Certainly Australia was never going to sign a pact that gave a massive
advantage to American and Japanese competitors, and heavy industry is not
even a particularly big player in our economy.
If the Europeans would just give up on Kyoto, declare a public
relations/political victory by claiming the high moral ground and blaming
the US, and move on, then at least the world can start work on a more
viable plan. As things stand, no-one is doing anything about saving our
climate.
Russell Chapman
Brisbane Australia
