News from PointCarbon in Nov 08:
1) Leaders from six countries signed a declaration vowing to cooperate in reducing carbon emissions. The signatories included Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico and the US.

2) The US Senate will draft a cap-and-trade bill in 2009 reflecting the president-elect’s climate goals.

3) China is set to establish a carbon trading scheme for its provinces, according to media reports. The proposal was made earlier this month, and according to an official at the State Forestry Administration the central government is likely to advance plans for a forestry-based scheme.

4) Most major Japanese political parties favour drastic medium and long-term national emission reduction targets, according to a survey by environmental groups on Thursday. Of the country’s eight major political parties, five replied that the world’s second-largest economy should set targets of cutting its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 to 40 per cent under 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80 to 95 per cent by 2050.

5) Finland’s government today approved a long-term climate and energy strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions, curb energy consumption and boost the use of renewable energy by 2020, with additional guidance for 2050.

6) The EU may offer compromises to individual member states in a bid to stave off rejection of the bloc’s landmark climate and energy package by at least seven countries. At the second day of a summit of leaders from the EU’s 27 member states, countries opposed to some of the key measures in the climate package were digesting comments from French president Nicolas Sarkozy that the bloc needed “to take into account some specific problems of some member states
…Yesterday, Poland and six other central and eastern European countries warned fellow member states that they will reject the EU climate package unless it takes greater account of national circumstances and proposed changes to key areas, including the full auctioning of carbon credits to power companies.

Apologies for the long post. http://www.climateark.org/ is a good source of policy news

“the rest just stand around and watch.”

“Rudd may well get the message that it is bloody stupid to bankrupt the country while the rest just stand around and watch.”

The rest, who are the rest dumb-dumb? You have no idea of economics ethier.

Have you ever done a day’s work for the environment?

>Shame our largest trading partner Australia is heading down the ETS path and we will have to anyway if we want to remain competitive with this well advanced nation compared to ours.

Rudd may well get the message that it is bloody stupid to bankrupt the country while the rest just stand around and watch.

And you are a fruit loop who wants a yellowish-blue agenda with no regard to the environment and future generations. Shame our largest trading partner Australia is heading down the ETS path and we will have to anyway if we want to remain competitive with this well advanced nation compared to ours.

I sincerely hope that Key is just going through the motions of supporting ETS and Kyoto to protect our trade with every country in Europe which, with the exception of Britain run by that madman Brown, is wriggling out of the commitments as fast as the barbed wire permits.

You lot want some loopy green agenda without any thought to the consequences.

Bit hard for one Mr Arden to drive his tractor up the steps of his own front yard now that National have re-mooted this idea!!

From time to time someone is going to shoot holes in your nonsense.

Not with your calibre of pop-gun broadside, Roger.

Shorter Rog:

I know you’ve expressed you don’t like to censor, but it really impairs the readability of the blog to sort through comments that are off-topic for a particular post.

True enough, but I’m operating on the “enough rope” principal with Mr Dewhurst (NZ CSC member, signatory of the Manhattan Crank Statement).

AW:

Thank God Helen had so much time in government to put New Zealand on the right emissions path:

The last government failed to implement policy early enough – principally through getting into bed with NZ First and UF. But note that the Nats and ACT both voted against a carbon tax when it was on the table – yet they are apparently both now considering that option.

National has failed to grasp this particular nettle, preferring to allow big emitters and lobbyists (not to mention their libertarian rump – who got fewer votes than Winston First) determine their policy. Bad move, bad for the country. Key will find himself out if step with all the leaders he’s now so keen to be seen with… And there is a business backlash to be seen – think forestry, think the companies who have been taking carbon mitigation steps to help their overseas marketing.

DPF can try to spin this all he wants, but Key is pandering to his right wing. If the cranks get into the review process we’ll be a laughing stock.