From the GWPF:
Europe’s New Anti-Green Majority Scores Huge Victory EU Parliament Refuses To Save Its Dying Carbon Market
The European Union’s climate change policy is on the brink of collapse today after MEPs torpedoed Europe’s flagship CO2 emissions trading scheme by voting against a measure to support the price of carbon permits. The price of carbon crashed up to 45 per cent to a record-low €2.63 a metric ton (and later to €2.46 – Anthony), after the European Parliament rejected a proposal to change the EU emissions-trading laws to delay the sale of 900m CO2 permits on the world’s biggest carbon markets. –Bruno Waterfields, The Daily Telegraph, 16 April 2013
Given the manifest reluctance of the world’s big emitters to accept any legally binding carbon targets and in face of our deepening economic crisis, Europe should undertake a comprehensive review of its economically damaging carbon targets and — in the absence of an international agreement — should consider the suspension of all unilateral climate policies that threaten Europe’s economic recovery. –Benny Peiser, National Post, 25 November 2011
“The decision means the end of a European approach to climate policy.” –Felix Matthes, Spiegel Online, 17 April 2013
A vote against backloading will in effect be interpreted as a vote in favour of delay and inaction and be leapt on as supporting evidence by the climate sceptics who oppose any action on climate change on ideological grounds. –-Bryony Worthington, The Guardian, 16 April 2013
The European Union’s flagship program to fight global warming suffered a major blow Tuesday when lawmakers rejected a proposal aimed at shoring up the region’s carbon-emissions trading system, putting its survival in doubt. Germany’s Minister of Economic and Technology Philipp Rösler welcomed the rejection of the backloading plans as an “excellent signal” for an continuing economic recovery. –Sean Carney, The Wall Street Journal, 16 April 2013
The EU has been the global laboratory testing the green agenda to see how it works. Yesterday’s story means that the guinea pig died; the most important piece of green intervention in world history has become an expensive and embarrassing flop. It’s hard to exaggerate the importance of this for environmentalists everywhere; if the EU can’t make the green agenda work, it’s unlikely that anybody else will give it a try. –Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia, 16 April 2013
EUROPE’S flagship environmental policy has just been holed below the water line. On April 16th the European Parliament voted by 334 to 315 to reject proposals which (its supporters claimed) were needed to save the emissions-trading system (ETS) from collapse. Carbon prices promptly fell 40%. Some environmentalists fear that the whole edifice of European climate policy could start to crumble. The real question now is whether the scuppering of the ETS will lead to the dismantling of the EU’s climate policies more generally. –The Economist, 16 April 2013
Tory MEPs are planning to defy David Cameron in a tense vote at noon on one of Europe’s flagship climate policies, the emissions trading scheme(ETS). Former Tory environment ministers Tim Yeo and John Gummer intervened on Tuesday, calling for the MEPs to vote in favour of the reforms. Yeo told Guardian partner EurActiv that Margaret Thatcher, who died last week, would have been in favour of the reform because she “favoured market mechanisms” as a way of addressing environmental problems. –Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 16 April 2013
SWISS banking giant UBS says the European Union’s emissions trading scheme has cost the continent’s consumers $287 billion for “almost zero impact” on cutting carbon emissions, and has warned that the EU’s carbon pricing market is on the verge of a crash next year. –-The Australian, 23 November 2011
The unresolved question is policy on climate change. The Prime Minister has not spoken on climate issues since the election. Many Tory MPs share the scepticism of Lord Lawson about the science of global warming. Even more believe that the UK, which accounts for less than 2 per cent of global emissions is already doing enough – at a considerable short term cost to business and voters – while other countries are doing very little. For the moment the UK is sticking to its commitments within the EU, but resisting the idea of even higher target reductions. A open debate about climate change would be divisive (not least within the coalition ) and there is genuine uncertainty about public reactions. The denial of climate change did nothing to help the Republicans in the US. The conclusion for the moment therefore seems to be to let a sleeping dog lie. –Nick Butler, Financial Times, 15 April 2013
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Again, as I frequently point out when one of these markets dies, a 20lb bag of charcoal briquettes is worth more than a ton of EU carbon:
Readers may recall this from WUWT in 2009, still valid today:
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jc says:
April 17, 2013 at 12:48 pm
“Can you elaborate a bit? You’ve referred before to the German Greens being in significant part a vehicle for communists/leftists. Is this now becoming explicit?”
Yes of course, since Lehmann / Financial crisis 2008 and the unfolding Euro crisis. There’s a constant propaganda onslaught since that time by our leftist groups and the public media, often also by the ruling “conservatives”, against evil speculators (you know, those billionaires who are responsible for … hmm… causing the Greek bankruptcy by… hmm… buying CDS’s, betting against Greece…. because we all know when you bet against a European state paying its bills you are responsible when said state defaults).
So the Left (ex PDS, ex SED; communists), the SPD (socialists) and the Greens (watermelons) are fighting for the hard left vote (and transaction taxes); the CDU(“conservatives”) for the left vote(and transaction taxes). All parties try to one up each other regarding the desired punishment for evil tax cheat offshore bank account holders.
” How long has this been developing if so? What is the reaction in Germany?”
Germans are so gung ho about it, a colleague was confused when I told him he was a statist (I used other words, as the word statist does not exist in this meaning in German) – he told me his friends call him a right winger while I was calling him a collectivist (he mindlessly repeated the propaganda I mentioned; he’s a hapless victim of public TV).
So all Germans basically need a thorough deprogramming; I would suggest strapping them to a comfi chair and force them to watch one week of von Mises institute lectures. Unfortunately they don’t understand spoken English.
Here and there all our pro-renewable energy and pro-Euro parties (all the parties I mentioned share these attributes and they comprise 95% of the vote) still make a muffled “save the climate” noise but it’s only to appease the last die hard eco voter.
We also had an upstart protest party, the Pirates – the kids of the Greens whose members are mostly teachers. The Pirates shot up to 10% of the vote, then crashed again. They never defined their economic policy, and stole all of their energy policy from the Greens.
So this is just an amazing country.
All my German friends esp on FB are middle aged – 40s – and have totally swallowed the CAGW koolaid. They are all very leftist. It seems there’s no media coverage of climate studies from the sceptical pov at all there.
I find the rating buttons visually tiring btw; and though I’ve ‘liked’ a few comments, don’t think they add anything to the debate (possibly the reverse). They seem to make the page slower too – I don’t usually get the dreaded spinning disc on wuwt!
@ur momisugly DirkH says:
April 17, 2013 at 1:03 pm
Interesting times! It seems at least in Germany that the whole AGW thing is mixed through just about everything. I guess the question is, can it be separated out and dealt with for what it is? Or does it require -and is it simply part of – a wholesale reevaluation of societal structures?
Sam the First says:
April 17, 2013 at 1:20 pm
“All my German friends esp on FB are middle aged – 40s – and have totally swallowed the CAGW koolaid. They are all very leftist. It seems there’s no media coverage of climate studies from the sceptical pov at all there.”
I never tire of explaining the Svensmark theory to them, they never heard of it and also never heard about the long minimum our sun goes into. I leave behind on my various journeys bedazzled warmists who usually get surprised by the following cold winters… as if I were a prophet… and they seek refuge in the soothing utterances of the Potsdam Institute, assuring them that all is well, the cold winter is a consequence of Global Warming. I am under no illusion about my impact…
@ur momisugly Sam the First says:
April 17, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Its probably not something that comes up every 5 minutes, but have you noticed – assuming you’ve been in touch with your German friends in this way for awhile – any change in the way they are thinking about it?
This is the bit that surprised and delighted me (from The Economist):
“What came as a surprise is the fact that all but four British conservative members of the European Parliament also voted against the plan. In doing so they defied their own government, which has introduced a carbon floor price in Britain that could soon be higher than the European carbon price. And the European Socialists, which had been expected mostly to back the proposals, instead split, with 44 in favour of the plan and 31 against.”
Sounds like quite a few have woken up. Even better, rather than just making vague noises of discontent, they are actually doing something about it and stepping away.
This is the best piece of news I have heard all year.
jc says:
April 17, 2013 at 1:25 pm
“Interesting times! It seems at least in Germany that the whole AGW thing is mixed through just about everything. I guess the question is, can it be separated out and dealt with for what it is? Or does it require -and is it simply part of – a wholesale reevaluation of societal structures?”
Yes, it’s the state religion. He who does not believe in God will believe in everything. The Political Religion. What happens when it turns out to be false? When Prophecy Fails (Festinger).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails
@ur momisugly DirkH says:
April 17, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Its sometimes hard to know the impact when dealing with fixed ideas. The very act of resistance is an acknowledgement. And when something finally clicks, such people can move surprisingly quickly to a very different view. At least hopefully!
The graph sorta looks like an upside down hockey stick.
Somebody please tell me Al Gore lost money on this. Please ????
Another question for WUWT commenters: how is this news playing in Australia and what does it portend for PM Gillard?
Don’t celebrate until the carbon market is actually discontinued: The EU is known for pushing and repushing its agenda – just look at the nonsense that got Ireland into the EU.
DirkH says:
April 17, 2013 at 12:39 pm
So you’re saying it’s a negative feedback, but in a positive direction? I’m jiggy with it.
For jc: who, like I, is HOPEFUL the media will turn on the warmists and conservation will not die with AGW. [I’m going to stop putting AGW in caps; it does not warrent the treatment.] I seem to see you’re beginning to agree with me that now the dam has broken the flood will begin to swamp the warmists. I’m eagerly awaiting the first MSM [they don’t deserve caps either] story which’ ever so carefully, alleges fraud on the part of the so called climate scientists.
On April Fool’s Day, British businesses were forced to start paying £16 ($24.30) per metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted this year and this will rise to £30 ($45.63) by 2020.
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/04/01/uk-carbon-price-a-threat-to-business-competitiveness/
“To change one’s opinion is the normal act of rational people when new information is presented, yet in politics, the U-turn is seen as political suicide. The ‘program’ must be adhered to… .” [TDG, 4/17/13, 10:58]
Hence, we have the latest edict from the Cult of Enviromentalism: the “Pause.”
I clicked through to enjoy a little Schadenfrikkinfreude at the EU carbon price fall, and came across an article about it in Der Speigel On-Line International, illustrated with this abhorrent photo:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/bild-894842-462914.html
It looked like someone wanted to make the steam look like brown smoke, so they grabbed a big CONTRAST brush in Photoshop and swiped it over the clouds, leaving a glowing sky and weird color balances.
Sure enough, here’s the original unaltered DFA photo. The clumsiness of Der Spiegel is breathtaking.
https://www.focus.de/fotos/braunkohle-tagebau-von-vattenfall_mid_1230552.html
jRe: “Tulipomania” that swept eastern Europe in one of the biggest trading bubbles, many years ago, seen in grown commodities, where tulip bulbs were sold for thousands of guilders each and where the problems caused by everyone cashing in on bulb growing then lead to near starvation in some places due to neglect of the other crops and people started eating the bulbs… .” [jono1066, 4/17/13, 12:41]
Nice analogy to the ethanol fuel mess.
Seriously, is that why the Dutch in occupied Holland ate bulbs during WWII when they ran out of food? I always thought it was due to…. HITLER!!! Bwah, ha,ha, ha, ha, haaaaaaaaaaaaa!
(if this got posted, it is further proof that Anthony Watt has a sense of humor)
Does that mean that the $1000 per ton cost in Ontario Canada is a ‘bad deal’? – No its much worse than that. Corruption to the core. No matter where you are, all green technologies cost hundreds per ton or more.
Its expensive to lower carbon output from a system that’s already cleaner than almost everyone else. The tragedy occurs for me, as for all people on this planet, in my wallet.
ono1066 says:
April 17, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Jimbo suggests Tulips,
is that specifically due to “Tulipomania” that swept eastern europe in one of the biggest trading bubbles, many year ago
====================================================
Nope. Western Europe, specifically Netherlands back in the 1600s.
Get rid of the EU,the UN and the EPA and watch this all fallover.
Somebody ought to post those side by side here on WUWT
Whoops, too slow. Was speaking of :
vladimpala says:
April 17, 2013 at 2:55 pm
I clicked through to enjoy a little Schadenfrikkinfreude at the EU carbon price fall, and came across an article about it in Der Speigel On-Line International, illustrated with this abhorrent photo:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/bild-894842-462914.html
It looked like someone wanted to make the steam look like brown smoke, so they grabbed a big CONTRAST brush in Photoshop and swiped it over the clouds, leaving a glowing sky and weird color balances.
Sure enough, here’s the original unaltered DFA photo. The clumsiness of Der Spiegel is breathtaking.
https://www.focus.de/fotos/braunkohle-tagebau-von-vattenfall_mid_1230552.html
The Economist comes once again to the rescue.
It won’t be long before the Warmist Economist is called a fossil fuel backed [snip] likened to the tobacco lobby.
Sorry, but I don’t like the thumbs-up/down ratings.
So far I have seen only one overwhelming negative response (@Bruckner8). That was to a comment I would simply pass over. I’d have scored it 0/0.
Isn’t it one of the great virtues of WUWT that it helps people make up their own minds? I think the thumbs may inhibit that.
Besides, if the trolls don’t come any more, we may lose a lot of fun.
Just my opinion.
Neil
I doubt Al Gore lost much money. As a fat cat, he has excellent sources of information, and is able to bail out before the nose dive.
The problem is, many poorer people do not have the same sources of information, and wind up hurt by these crashes. For example, it is my impression that those in charge of the BBC pension plan invested heavily in “carbon schemes.” Has anyone heard about bad things happening to people who worked for the BBC and planned on a nice pension?
This becomes a problem for Al Gore, because he winds up looking very much like a confidence trickster. The people who trusted him wound up looking like suckers. And people do not take kindly to that.
I would not like to be in Al Gore’s shoes. Even if he is a mere figurehead, and there are other sly people hidden behind the scenes raking in millions, it is the figurehead that makes the best scapegoat.