by Iain Murray
August 31, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
Mexico has become the first nation to adopt a greenhouse gas protocol designed by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
The voluntary protocol, which works on a company-wide or entity scale rather than by project or at factory level, requires companies to account for the six Kyoto greenhouse gases as assets or liabilities.
Environmental groups lauded the move. WRI President Jonathan Lash said, The GHG Protocol is voluntary, but if and when the Kyoto Protocol is ratified, and in an increasingly carbon-constrained world,…
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by Iain Murray
August 17, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
The Christian Science Monitor (Aug. 13) has endorsed a policy of increasing the price of gas by means of a 50 cents per gallon federal tax.
It says, While the higher oil prices have dampened economic growth, they do serve two useful purposes. They’re another wake-up call that available crude-oil reserves are expected to decline by mid-21st century. And they’re a reminder that the best incentive for switching to alternative energy sources or better conservation is to keep oil prices highand, most…
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by CEI Staff
August 12, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
Washington, D.C. According to a new study appearing in the August 13 issue of the journal Science, We already have the technology we need to take the world off the path toward dramatic climate change. But a cursory glance at the advance summary reveals that the study, conducted by Princeton Environmental Institutes Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI), is completely out of touch with economic, political, and environmental reality.
The forthcoming study claims that each of 15 recommended strategies could eliminate up…
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by Iain Murray
August 03, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
The slowdown in the growth of the U. S. economy in the second quarter has been put down to rising energy prices. the rate of annual growth in gross domestic product declined from 4.5 percent in the first quarter to 3 percent in the past three months. Consumer spending also dropped from a growth rate of 4.1 percent to a meager 1 percent in the second quarter.
Although economists predict the economy to rebound over the next few months, analysts say…
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by Myron Ebell
July 20, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
In a press conference on July 8, the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE) called for a review of the European Unions climate change strategy until 2012 and beyond. According to the industry federation, the EU’s unilateral implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will widen the gap between American and European economic growth and undermine the competitiveness of European industry.
Fabrizion d’Adda, the chairman of UNICE’s industrial affairs committee, predicts the EUs emissions trading scheme costs consumers between 85…
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by Iain Murray
July 06, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
At a time when SUVs are rapidly growing in popularity in Europe and several auto manufacturers, including Volkswagens Audi and General Motors Opel, have plans to launch new models, the vehicles have come under legislative and rhetorical fire in both France and the United Kingdom.
France is imposing a new tax on vehicles that emit the most greenhouse gases ranging from €1600 to €3200. This tax is aimed primarily at SUVs, but includes large passenger cars as well. Smaller vehicles that…
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by Dr. Margo Thorning
June 29, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
Dr. Margo Thorning
American Council for Capital Formation
Dr. Margo Thorning is senior vice president and chief economist with the American Council for Capital Formation and director of research for its public policy think tank. Dr. Thorning also serves as the managing director of the International Council for Capital Formation. Thorning is an internationally recognized expert on tax, environmental, and competitiveness issues. She writes and lectures on tax and economic policy, is frequently quoted in publications such as the Financial Times, Suddeutsche…
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by Iain Murray
June 22, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) on June 14 released its draft plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the states automobiles. It calls for lowering auto emissions by 30 percent below 2002 levels by 2014. The plan immediately generated significant objections to its cost and constitutionality.
CARB had been charged by a law passed in 2002 with achieving the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of emissions beginning in 2006, with all new vehicles meeting the rules by 2009. The proposals…
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by Iain Murray
May 11, 2004 @ 11:00 pm
Hybrid cars are not living up to their advertised gas mileage, claimed a recent article from wired.com (May 11).
John DiPietro, a road test editor of the automotive website Edmunds.com, explained in the article that drivers hardly ever experience the actual miles per gallon advertised by the EPA. Most automobiles would have miles per gallon of approximately 75 to 87 percent of the EPAs rating. However, data from Consumer Reports suggests that the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Toyota Prius averaged well…
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In a peculiar echo of the Duke of Wellingtons famous remark that the railways were a bad idea because they let the poor move around the country, Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley suggested on April 15 that something had to be done about poor and middle class Britons flying too much.
She wrote, And yes, it would meancharging the real environmental cost of cheap air travel, either levied on airports or aviation fuel, or both. We should recognise that this reduces human…
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