India released an analysis on Wednesday projecting tripled carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030, the New York Times reports. Taking into account five independent studies, India expects to release between 4 billion and 7 billion tons by 2030, BBC News reports, compared to 1.2 billion tons today.
India released the analysis to strengthen its bargaining position at the December Copenhagen climate summit where delegates will attempt to negotiate a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol. The United States and other industrialized nations contend that India should adopt binding emission limits. India refuses, arguing that mandatory restrictions would stifle the country’s economic development.
The analysis supports this position, explains Jairam Ramesh, India’s minister of environment and forests, because India’s per capita emissions in 2030 will still be much lower than that of any developed country today.…
Continue ReadingThe European Union has set a target of doubling the share of renewable energy sources (RES) to 20 percent by 2020. This is a very aggressive target given the growing grass-roots opposition of landscape-loving citizens against windpower and the large country-by-country deficits compared to the target.
The political consensus behind this renewables target is premised on the notions that:
Unfortunately, the target has been adopted before realizing what it would mean for the EU’s economy. Now, more detailed information has emerged. As more information becomes available–and the costs become more apparent–expect a public backlash. One can even predict that ‘green fatigue’ will increasingly emerge in the EU.…
Continue ReadingIn two previous posts, “Green” China and CO2 Cap-and-Trade Meets the (China) Dragon, I described China’s rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a “one-country negation” to the Waxman-Markey climate bill (HR 2454). “The expected growth of coal-fired generation in China over the next 20 years will result in a net increase in CO2 emissions from their power sector of more than ten times that of reduced U.S. emissions due to coal constraints,” I concluded.
This is good, not bad, insofar as dung and wood are terrible things to burn. Moreover, China has now committed to using better combustion technology in its power sector, including more coal gasification and high pressure (supercritical) coal-fired thermal power plants. To top things off, China has apparently committed itself to substantial growth in its renewable energy output by 2020.…
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