CAP-AND-TRADE SYSTEM INSUFFICIENT TO PROMPT RENEWABLE ENERGY ROLL OUT
February 27, 2009
Will a cap-and-trade system, the centerpiece in President Obama's budget, really manage to address climate change and end U.S addiction to oil? Well, it depends whom you ask, says the Washington Examiner.
A new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, for example, states that there has been little indication that cap-and trade will lower emissions:
- These programs have not lowered overall emissions in developed countries.
- In the European Union emissions of carbon dioxide have gone up, not down.
- By contrast, CO2 emission in the United States which did not ratify the Kyoto treaty, have grown much more slowly than in the EU, even declining in 2006.
Moreover:
- Although greenhouse gas emissions per capita vary widely among European countries, the recent years increase has only been in the EU-12.
- According to the European Environment Agency average per capita emissions decreased in EU-27 between 1990 and 2006.
But will a cap-and-trade system end U.S addiction to oil? President Obama estimates that the program will fund vital investments in clean energy, totaling $150 billion over 10 years starting in 2012.
Not likely, says the Examiner:
- A report by the World Economic Forum finds that at least for the next decades or so, carbon prices alone will be insufficient to prompt a large-scale roll out of renewable energy.
- Nor will the prices be sufficient to promote carbon capture and sequestration.
Source: Caroline Calais, "Cap-and-trade system insufficient to prompt renewable energy roll out, part 1 of 2," Washington Examiner, February 27, 2009.
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