Why Europe Is Getting Desperate

European Union ministers will try to get the United States to agree to “mid-term” emissions targets of 20% reductions by 2020 at the G8 conference for industrialized nations in Japan early this July. That’s not an arbitrary target; it’s the same one that the EU already adopted unilaterally two years ago.

European countries have yet to act on their collective promise to reduce emissions because they want other industrialized countries to make a similar pledge before proceeding with economically harmful climate policies. The procrastination is starting to hurt Europe’s heavy industry sector, which has postponed new investment until it can assess whether the EU’s climate regulations would make it more profitable to do business in countries without climate change regulations. But it cannot postpone investment much longer, because heavy industry requires long planning horizons. As a result, the EU is getting increasingly desperate to commit the United States to similar emissions targets.