Truth Or Consequneces

One of the trickier aspects of following grand scheme political ideas is to get past the high-minded noble rhetoric and take a look at the actual consequences. It is necessary, because the price of being blinded by the passion of the righteous can be extremely high. In Europe, it is becoming abundantly clear that the passion for Kyoto and carbon emission limits has consequences and costs that should have been looked at before they followed that "ideal." Consequences and costs that thankfully kept this country out of that environmentalist disaster.

Ayn Rand once wrote, don't examine the folly, examine the consequences. In Europe they are being forced to do so.

As far as the imminent future is concerned, one thing is patently clear: After years of inflated promises that the Kyoto process would not upset their economy, European governments are beginning to realize that the era of cost-free climate hype is coming to an end. In its place, concern is growing that key industries and entire countries will pay a devastating price for Europe's reckless Kyoto craze.

The stakes are particularly high for Germany. Despite its customary role as environmental cheerleader, it has been hit hardest. Brussels bureaucrats have slashed more than 30 million tonnes from its annual carbon permit. It faces up to ?3.5-billion in fines if it cannot bring down emissions by 2008.

Germany is extremely vulnerable to imposed energy caps. It is strongly opposed to plans for replacing its coal-fired power plants with gas-fired facilities, as such a move would only increase its already precarious dependency on Russian gas imports. Furthermore, successive governments have agreed to shut down all nuclear power plants, which account for a third of Germany's electricity generation. The Greens' anti-nuclear achievement has thus turned ideological triumph into an energy nightmare.

To make matters worse, Germany's industry bosses have warned that they will not proceed with billions in intended energy investments should the government lose the bitter dispute with the European Commission over slashed emission credits. The EU has made clear that it will not yield to German demands, as this would destabilize its fragile trading scheme. However, should German companies be forced to buy carbon credits at higher prices, it will simply remove funds and economic incentives that the government had hoped would be invested in alternative technologies.

As the price for electricity, goods and services continue to rise and Asian competitors catch up with Europe's lethargic economy, the public is beginning to question Brussel's unilateral climate policy. According to a recent EU poll, more than 60% of Europeans are unwilling to sacrifice their standard of living in the name of green causes. As long as advocates of Kyoto got away with claims that their policies would not inflict any significant costs, many people were tempted to believe in improbable promises. Now that the true cost of Kyoto is starting to hurt European pockets, the erstwhile green consensus is unravelling.

Anyone who took an honest look at Kyoto, and the rest of global warming alarmism, had to see that this is the inevitable result. Kyoto was never a scientific agreement to effect the climate. It's stated effect on the climate (even if you believe it) is minimal. Kyoto is a political, international egalitarian program. It was designed to let developing and emerging economies catch up with the west - not by helping them, but by slowing the rest us of down. It was designed to level the economic playing field not by raising up the lowest, but by crippling the best.

Yet while some of the national governments, and a significant portion of the European population, begin to question the wisdom and the cost of Kyoto, the government of the European clings to the dream. As it seems unlikely that Brussels will abandon its economically disastrous carbon policies the future will either be that the nations of Europe will follow the Union over the precipice into economic ruin or the Union will fracture under the strain of nations and populations who want no part of the Kyoto nightmare.

Hat Tip: Greenie Watch.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 05:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment