Russia signs, but so what?
ADAM SMITH INSTITUTE BLOG
Russia has now signed up to the Kyoto protocol, reluctantly, and allegedly after huge financial inducements from some EU countries. But Philip Stott, professor of Biogeography at the University of London, thinks it will have negligible impact on climate. In today’s Times (difficult link for US readers) he says that:
Clamping down on carbon emissions could drain $1 trillion from the world economy, hit production and raise energy prices punitively.
And all for very little effect, except on the economies of developed countries. He adds:
Moreover, we know that the Kyoto Protocol will do nothing about climate change: at the most it will delay changes by two years over the next century. To declare otherwise is to mislead.
More embarrassingly, most European countries are far from attaining their own emission targets, although they freely lecture the good folk of Ohio and Oklahoma. More over, future energy demand does not lie in the West, but in the East, in China, India, Indonesia and Russia, most of which are not bound to make emission cuts by the Kyoto treaty. China will happily support Kyoto in theory, knowing that it can benefit economically as Western economies make themselves uncompetitive by donning the eco-hairshirt.
Meanwhile China continues a massive programme to build dozens of coal-fired power stations, with economic growth which boosts world demand for oil. Why is Kyoto so important if it will achieve so little? If it is some kind of totem or symbol, it seems to be a very expensive one. |
