EU Pitches Climate Plan

The European Union Commission this week outlined a diplomatic framework for negotiations to craft an international climate change treaty. The document cites an independent calculation that it could cost 175 billion Euros a year by 2020 to fight climate change. Yet the Commission dodges the key question of who will pay for this  “green” revolution in energy production, stating only that, “international financial support for actions exceeding a country’s domestic capabilities should come from sources including public funds and international carbon crediting mechanisms.”

So the question remains: Who’s going to pay what? The United States Senate remains unlikely to ratify any international agreement to ration energy that doesn’t also include rapidly developing countries responsible for an ever-greater share of global emissions. Developing countries, however, refuse to put global warming over poverty reduction and their “right to develop.” The EU procrastinates. Global emissions continue to rise (while temperatures stay the same).