An economist to save the planet

[freddau]

Leaves expected from an abnormally mild autumn, the 700 pages of the report of the chief economist of the British government Nicholas Stern were made public on October 30, 2006. He campaigned for the adoption, next year, of a new protocol of Kyoto and serves the ambitions of Minister of Finance Gordon Brown.

“In the last twelve months, a transformation has taken place about global warming. Suddenly he's taken for real and threatening. He's getting something done. The whole question is what. Thanks to the report from the Chief economist of the British government, Nicholas Stern, handed over on October 30, we will have the best roadmap to curb the environmental crisis that awaits us ", enthuses the Sunday newspaper The Observer.

This report estimates that global warming could cost the global economy 5,5 trillion euros. A crisis comparable to that which followed the stock market crash of 1929 is threatening to occur. Actions must be taken internationally, says Stern, who believes that a new Kyoto protocol must be negotiated next year without waiting for the original deadline. Stern will be sent to the United States to campaign for the environment. London has also hired Al Gore, a former Democratic candidate for the American presidency and now the author of a remarkable documentary on global warming, to support him in this process.

But, in the eyes of columnist Andreas Whittam Smith of The Independent, a daily known for its fervent defense of ecology, all this is not enough. "The only way to reduce CO2 emissions is to ration them. I do not believe that the problem will be solved unless the countries of the world agree to share the effort. I want a treaty that would split between countries the 80 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide that the planet is capable of supporting over the next few decades, according to estimates by environmentalist Mark Lynas. "

This project could satisfy the conservative daily The Daily Telegraph, for whom Kyoto is "directed against the industrialized countries, while the rapid increase in carbon dioxide emissions comes instead from countries such as China and India". Nicholas Stern's proposal to tax gasoline, air transport, cars and electronics in the UK in order to reduce these emissions also displeases the Daily Telegraph, which sees it only as a political maneuver to surf the environmentalist wave. "Taxes must be used in a sober, balanced way and always against the will. Never to give environmentalist pledges."

Jackie Ashley of the Guardian concedes that this is a political tactic, but welcomes Gordon Brown's action and this green tax proposal. It is indeed the current British Minister of Finance and successor to Tony Blair who mandated Nicholas Stern. His report gives Brown the opportunity to step up and propose the first environmental action plan from Labor, notes the columnist. But, if Jackie Ashley welcomes this initiative, she asks that the proposed new tax method marry the leftist convictions of the Labor Party.

"Labor must reassure the poorest and middle-class families, already under pressure, that these new taxes will not translate into additional costs for transport and more expensive vacations, all without compensation. simple would be to use this new income to reduce income tax and property tax. "

Marc Olivier Bherer
http://www.courrierinternational.com/ar ... j_id=67547

[freddau]

On France Inter, the journalist who spoke about the Chinese just emitted a flat by quoting Tony Blair.

If Britain stopped polluting for 2-3 years, it would hardly compensate for the increase in China.