LONDON (Reuters) - The first trade in European Union carbon permit futures for delivery in 2020, the year the next phase of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme ends, was done on Friday for 22.72 euros ($29.98) a tonne, the deal's broker said.
The over-the-counter trade on the European Climate Exchange (ECX) between Gunvor Global Energy and JP Morgan involved a complex structure that included contracts with other delivery dates within phase 3 of the scheme (2013-2020), Tradition said in a statement.
"This supports our belief in the longevity of the carbon market, and we are pleased to remain at the forefront as it continues to evolve," said Mike Anderson, head of European energy at Tradition.
Friday marked the first day the ECX, the world's largest carbon marketplace, offered trade in EU Allowance futures for delivery in 2015-2020.
The size of the trade was not disclosed, but data from ECX's website showed that 10 lots of Dec-2020 EUA futures, equivalent to 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, changed hands this morning.
Another 10 lots of Dec-18 futures and 20 lots of Dec-19 futures were also traded OTC on the ECX at undisclosed prices.
(Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Jane Baird)
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Bird-Friendly Wind Power
The Tesla-Inspired 'Solar Aero' Bladeless Wind Turbine
Rockstar The virtually silent, fully enclosed, Solar Aero bladeless wind turbine is safe for birds. The turbine design is based on a 1913 Tesla patent and has been specially modified for wind generation.
Not only does the Solar Aero bladeless wind turbine design preserve safe avian air space, it can generate power for about half the cost of power generated by bladed wind turbines. The patented design holds promise as a rooftop-mounted micro-wind power generator.
Solar Aero Research, New Hampshire, has patented a bladeless wind turbine with a mesh-covered air inlet, which poses no danger to bats and birds. Nor will it disrupt radar used by air traffic controllers and the military. The Fuller Wind Turbine, developed over four years with £215,000 of private investment, harnesses the viscosity of air passing over the rims of thin discs to generate energy. Designed with urban rooftops in mind, the entire housing swivels almost silently as it tracks the wind (forumforthefuture.org)
Rockstar The virtually silent, fully enclosed, Solar Aero bladeless wind turbine is safe for birds. The turbine design is based on a 1913 Tesla patent and has been specially modified for wind generation.
Not only does the Solar Aero bladeless wind turbine design preserve safe avian air space, it can generate power for about half the cost of power generated by bladed wind turbines. The patented design holds promise as a rooftop-mounted micro-wind power generator.
Solar Aero Research, New Hampshire, has patented a bladeless wind turbine with a mesh-covered air inlet, which poses no danger to bats and birds. Nor will it disrupt radar used by air traffic controllers and the military. The Fuller Wind Turbine, developed over four years with £215,000 of private investment, harnesses the viscosity of air passing over the rims of thin discs to generate energy. Designed with urban rooftops in mind, the entire housing swivels almost silently as it tracks the wind (forumforthefuture.org)
Tax Credits for Biofuels
Published: August 7, 2010
The refundable investment tax credit for wind, solar and geothermal energy proved the right policy at the right time to mobilize investment. Meanwhile, cellulosic and algae biofuels have been unable to attract badly needed private-sector investment, in part because federal support programs have been carried out haphazardly.
Parity in tax policies would send a signal to investors that the federal government is committed to developing advanced biofuels as the most viable replacement for petroleum in the transportation sector. Legislation has been introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee and should be supported by the Senate.
Advanced biofuel production could reduce oil imports by $70 billion each year by 2022, while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. Congress should look to the future and commit to a more serious, concerted effort to help biofuel producers rapidly deploy cellulosic and algae production technology, bridge from first- to next-generation biofuels and directly reduce reliance on petroleum.
Brent Erickson
Executive Vice President
Biotechnology Industry Organization
Washington, July 30, 2010
The refundable investment tax credit for wind, solar and geothermal energy proved the right policy at the right time to mobilize investment. Meanwhile, cellulosic and algae biofuels have been unable to attract badly needed private-sector investment, in part because federal support programs have been carried out haphazardly.
Parity in tax policies would send a signal to investors that the federal government is committed to developing advanced biofuels as the most viable replacement for petroleum in the transportation sector. Legislation has been introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee and should be supported by the Senate.
Advanced biofuel production could reduce oil imports by $70 billion each year by 2022, while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. Congress should look to the future and commit to a more serious, concerted effort to help biofuel producers rapidly deploy cellulosic and algae production technology, bridge from first- to next-generation biofuels and directly reduce reliance on petroleum.
Brent Erickson
Executive Vice President
Biotechnology Industry Organization
Washington, July 30, 2010
Chance for Wales to power ahead on the first wave of tidal energy
Aug 7 2010 by Robin Turner, Western Mail
WALES could at last be taking the lead when it comes to renewable energy thanks to the go- ahead for trials of an undersea tidal power scheme off Pembrokeshire.
The pioneering technology for harnessing the vast energy in our reliable-as-clockwork tides has been dreamed up and produced in Wales.
Marine engineer Richard Ayre came up with the idea then developed it at his base in Pembrokeshire’s Little Haven.
Trademarked DeltaStream, the technology could eventually produce thousands of jobs for recession-hit Wales.
The scheme is a perfect example of how green energy can benefit both the global environment and our domestic economy.
Unlike other forms of renewable energy, like solar and wind, the sub-sea DeltaStream turbines are powered by an entirely predictable natural resource.
And the technology is virtually invisible with work having been done to minimise harm to the marine environment.
It is also easy to install, having the ability to be put in place from a specially adapted barge.
And even in the prototype test, which will last 12 months, people in St Davids will get a reliable supply of green energy.
If the project gets off the ground as expected, many thousands more will have clean power entering their homes.
While images of the industrial revolution may be synonymous with Wales’ former economic prosperity, this kind of project shows a glimpse into a future in which this nation can be prosperous and forward-looking – without the belching chimneys.
By first thinking up a clean energy idea then backing it with hard cash and a “can do” attitude, Wales can produce jobs and even start a new manufacturing industry.
The proposed Severn Barrage, the 10-mile long, £15bn tidal energy scheme on a giant scale between Cardiff and Somerset, has its critics.
And the UK Government in its Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study will no doubt be taking seriously the concerns about the scheme’s threat to wetlands and other side effects.
But it is estimated it could produce 30,000 to 40,000 jobs at the peak of production and produce a stream of clean energy for generations to come.
It would be one of the world’s biggest and most difficult engineering projects.
The tides of the Severn Estuary rise and fall around 36 feet twice a day every day.
By harnessing the ancient power of the tides, Wales could not only be creating new jobs it could act as a green path- finder, setting an example for others.
The exciting DeltaStream project in Ramsey Sound will attract people from around the world.
And if the tests are successful Wales could find itself exporting a technology that could not only improve the economy but could also help save the planet.
WALES could at last be taking the lead when it comes to renewable energy thanks to the go- ahead for trials of an undersea tidal power scheme off Pembrokeshire.
The pioneering technology for harnessing the vast energy in our reliable-as-clockwork tides has been dreamed up and produced in Wales.
Marine engineer Richard Ayre came up with the idea then developed it at his base in Pembrokeshire’s Little Haven.
Trademarked DeltaStream, the technology could eventually produce thousands of jobs for recession-hit Wales.
The scheme is a perfect example of how green energy can benefit both the global environment and our domestic economy.
Unlike other forms of renewable energy, like solar and wind, the sub-sea DeltaStream turbines are powered by an entirely predictable natural resource.
And the technology is virtually invisible with work having been done to minimise harm to the marine environment.
It is also easy to install, having the ability to be put in place from a specially adapted barge.
And even in the prototype test, which will last 12 months, people in St Davids will get a reliable supply of green energy.
If the project gets off the ground as expected, many thousands more will have clean power entering their homes.
While images of the industrial revolution may be synonymous with Wales’ former economic prosperity, this kind of project shows a glimpse into a future in which this nation can be prosperous and forward-looking – without the belching chimneys.
By first thinking up a clean energy idea then backing it with hard cash and a “can do” attitude, Wales can produce jobs and even start a new manufacturing industry.
The proposed Severn Barrage, the 10-mile long, £15bn tidal energy scheme on a giant scale between Cardiff and Somerset, has its critics.
And the UK Government in its Severn Tidal Power Feasibility Study will no doubt be taking seriously the concerns about the scheme’s threat to wetlands and other side effects.
But it is estimated it could produce 30,000 to 40,000 jobs at the peak of production and produce a stream of clean energy for generations to come.
It would be one of the world’s biggest and most difficult engineering projects.
The tides of the Severn Estuary rise and fall around 36 feet twice a day every day.
By harnessing the ancient power of the tides, Wales could not only be creating new jobs it could act as a green path- finder, setting an example for others.
The exciting DeltaStream project in Ramsey Sound will attract people from around the world.
And if the tests are successful Wales could find itself exporting a technology that could not only improve the economy but could also help save the planet.
Car fuel 'could be made from thin air'
Car fuel could be created from thin air using an enzyme from a common soil bacterium, say scientists.
By Tom Chivers
Published: 12:20PM BST 06 Aug 2010
It is hoped that this will lead to a cheap way of making environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral 'green' fuel that can be used without major redesigns of car engines.
Azotobacter vinelandii, a microbe found around the roots of various food plants, creates an enzyme - vanadium nitrogenase - which in nature produces ammonia from nitrogen gas. But now it has been shown that it can also create propane, the fuel commonly used in camping gas stoves, out of carbon monoxide - a common byproduct of industrial processes.
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Drivers to get £5,000 electric car subsidy Markus Ribbe, a scientist at the University of California, says that eventually the enzyme could be tweaked, so that instead of only making the simple three-carbon-atom chain molecule of propane, it could create the longer chains that make up petrol. He says: "Obviously this could lead to new ways to create synthetic liquid fuels if we can make longer carbon-carbon chains."
The researchers found that, when deprived of the oxygen and nitrogen from which it made ammonia and given carbon monoxide instead, vanadium nitrogenase automatically started using it to produce short carbon chains, two or three atoms long. This new ability is a "profound discovery", according to Jonas Peters, a California Institute of Technology researcher, adding that it will have important industrial applications.
But the real excitement is in the possibility of using it for car fuel. Cars produce carbon monoxide in their exhausts through incomplete combustion, so in the not too distant future, it might be possible partly to fuel cars off their own fumes. Later still, it might be possible to draw fuel straight out of the air - technology for breaking down carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide exists, and the former is widely available in the atmosphere. Eventually, cars could be taking carbon out of the atmosphere as fast as they put it back in.
That's a long way off - extracting, growing and storing sufficient quantities of vanadium nitrogenase is "very, very difficult", according to Dr Ribbe. While A. vinelandii and its useful enzyme have been known about for a long time - the genes that code for the enzyme were isolated more than 20 years ago - the technology required to make it in useful quantities is very recent.
Story via Discovery News.
By Tom Chivers
Published: 12:20PM BST 06 Aug 2010
It is hoped that this will lead to a cheap way of making environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral 'green' fuel that can be used without major redesigns of car engines.
Azotobacter vinelandii, a microbe found around the roots of various food plants, creates an enzyme - vanadium nitrogenase - which in nature produces ammonia from nitrogen gas. But now it has been shown that it can also create propane, the fuel commonly used in camping gas stoves, out of carbon monoxide - a common byproduct of industrial processes.
Related Articles
Bio bug and all that
Bio-Bug: Car run on human waste is launched
User refund for London bike scheme
Kevin McCloud on cars
Porsche 918 Spyder confirmed
Drivers to get £5,000 electric car subsidy Markus Ribbe, a scientist at the University of California, says that eventually the enzyme could be tweaked, so that instead of only making the simple three-carbon-atom chain molecule of propane, it could create the longer chains that make up petrol. He says: "Obviously this could lead to new ways to create synthetic liquid fuels if we can make longer carbon-carbon chains."
The researchers found that, when deprived of the oxygen and nitrogen from which it made ammonia and given carbon monoxide instead, vanadium nitrogenase automatically started using it to produce short carbon chains, two or three atoms long. This new ability is a "profound discovery", according to Jonas Peters, a California Institute of Technology researcher, adding that it will have important industrial applications.
But the real excitement is in the possibility of using it for car fuel. Cars produce carbon monoxide in their exhausts through incomplete combustion, so in the not too distant future, it might be possible partly to fuel cars off their own fumes. Later still, it might be possible to draw fuel straight out of the air - technology for breaking down carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide exists, and the former is widely available in the atmosphere. Eventually, cars could be taking carbon out of the atmosphere as fast as they put it back in.
That's a long way off - extracting, growing and storing sufficient quantities of vanadium nitrogenase is "very, very difficult", according to Dr Ribbe. While A. vinelandii and its useful enzyme have been known about for a long time - the genes that code for the enzyme were isolated more than 20 years ago - the technology required to make it in useful quantities is very recent.
Story via Discovery News.
All new homes to run on green power by 2016
Developers failing to reach zero-carbon standards will be charged a levy to fund local energy plants
By Matt Chorley, Political Correspondent
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Every new home is to be powered by a green energy plant to offset its environmental impact under government plans for zero-carbon living from 2016.
If a development is too small, remote or shielded from wind or sun for an effective renewables scheme, developers will pay a levy to the local council to create bigger plants nearby that would cancel out the carbon footprint of the homes, while providing green power. According to government figures, more than a quarter of all CO2 emissions come from residential properties.
All new homes are rated under the Code for Sustainable Homes. Where planned properties do not reach the highest level 6 standard – where their own green energy production offsets their emissions – developers would be charged a tariff of around £15,000 by the local council to fund infrastructure and local services. Part of this would also include contributing to a "buy-out fund" to pay for the construction of wind farms, solar panels or geothermal technologies in the local area, which would supply the new development with green power.
It is hoped the plan would result in economies of scale, where a larger renewable energy plant could offset the carbon emissions of several small plots of houses.
The housing minister, Grant Shapps, said: "We are committed to being the greenest government ever, and an essential part of that is to ensure that all homes in the future will be built without emitting any carbon. This announcement is an important and very significant step in that direction because for the first time we have described in detail how developers might be expected to achieve zero carbon, by connecting developments to local energy schemes."
Labour set the 2016 zero-carbon target in 2006 but did little to explain how it would be met, or even what the definition meant. The coalition has given £600,000 to the public-private body Zero Carbon Hub to begin testing new benchmarks for carbon emission reductions. However, even supporters of the scheme complain that the coalition has reneged on a promise to set out a definition for a zero-carbon home "within weeks" of taking office.
Simon McWhirter, from the conservation charity WWF, said the levy on developers was "really important" to ensure that new properties, such as flats, which cannot practically generate enough green power on site, can still be zero carbon. "The ability for small builders to pay into a pot which will then be used independently to deliver the emissions reductions elsewhere is a sensible approach to take."
Ministers are also being urged to ensure that building guidelines do not include measures to prevent loss of heat and power that make the homes uninhabitable, through overheating or poor ventilation.
Dr David Strong, chief executive of consultancy Inbuilt and a member of the Zero Carbon Hub's task group, said: "My big worry is as we start to build our homes to increasing standards, unless there is considerable care in the way they are designed and built, there is a real danger of a whole lot of perverse outcomes."
Nottingham City Council already runs a district heating system, in which domestic and commercial waste is used to provide electricity and hot water to more than 4,600 homes, the National Ice Centre, and two shopping centres.
By Matt Chorley, Political Correspondent
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Every new home is to be powered by a green energy plant to offset its environmental impact under government plans for zero-carbon living from 2016.
If a development is too small, remote or shielded from wind or sun for an effective renewables scheme, developers will pay a levy to the local council to create bigger plants nearby that would cancel out the carbon footprint of the homes, while providing green power. According to government figures, more than a quarter of all CO2 emissions come from residential properties.
All new homes are rated under the Code for Sustainable Homes. Where planned properties do not reach the highest level 6 standard – where their own green energy production offsets their emissions – developers would be charged a tariff of around £15,000 by the local council to fund infrastructure and local services. Part of this would also include contributing to a "buy-out fund" to pay for the construction of wind farms, solar panels or geothermal technologies in the local area, which would supply the new development with green power.
It is hoped the plan would result in economies of scale, where a larger renewable energy plant could offset the carbon emissions of several small plots of houses.
The housing minister, Grant Shapps, said: "We are committed to being the greenest government ever, and an essential part of that is to ensure that all homes in the future will be built without emitting any carbon. This announcement is an important and very significant step in that direction because for the first time we have described in detail how developers might be expected to achieve zero carbon, by connecting developments to local energy schemes."
Labour set the 2016 zero-carbon target in 2006 but did little to explain how it would be met, or even what the definition meant. The coalition has given £600,000 to the public-private body Zero Carbon Hub to begin testing new benchmarks for carbon emission reductions. However, even supporters of the scheme complain that the coalition has reneged on a promise to set out a definition for a zero-carbon home "within weeks" of taking office.
Simon McWhirter, from the conservation charity WWF, said the levy on developers was "really important" to ensure that new properties, such as flats, which cannot practically generate enough green power on site, can still be zero carbon. "The ability for small builders to pay into a pot which will then be used independently to deliver the emissions reductions elsewhere is a sensible approach to take."
Ministers are also being urged to ensure that building guidelines do not include measures to prevent loss of heat and power that make the homes uninhabitable, through overheating or poor ventilation.
Dr David Strong, chief executive of consultancy Inbuilt and a member of the Zero Carbon Hub's task group, said: "My big worry is as we start to build our homes to increasing standards, unless there is considerable care in the way they are designed and built, there is a real danger of a whole lot of perverse outcomes."
Nottingham City Council already runs a district heating system, in which domestic and commercial waste is used to provide electricity and hot water to more than 4,600 homes, the National Ice Centre, and two shopping centres.
Coal: The cheap, dirty and direct route to irreversible climate change
The global dominance of industrial interests dependant on cheap energy sourced from coal mean climate change is inevitable
Daniel Gros
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 August 2010 12.20 BST
Sometimes the most important news is what is not happening. This summer has given us one such example: the climate-change bill, for which President Barack Obama had pushed so hard, will not even be presented to the US Senate, because it stands no chance of passage.
This means that the US is about to repeat its "Kyoto experience". Twenty years ago, in 1990, the US participated (at least initially) in the first global talks aimed at achieving a global accord to reduce CO2 emissions. At the time, the EU and the US were by far the greatest emitters, so it seemed appropriate to exempt the world's emerging economies from any commitment. Over time, it became apparent that the US would not live up to its commitment, owing, as now, to opposition in the Senate. The EU then went ahead on its own, introducing its path-breaking European Emission Trading System in the hope that Europe could lead by example.
Without the American climate-change package, the promises made by the US administration only seven months ago at the Copenhagen summit have become worthless. The European strategy is in tatters – and not only on the transatlantic front.
China's commitment to increase the CO2 efficiency of its economy by about 3% per year is of no help, because annual GDP growth rates of close to 10% mean that the country's emissions will soar during this decade. Indeed, by 2020, Chinese emissions could be more than triple those of Europe and even surpass those of the US and Europe combined. Exempting emerging markets from any commitments, as the Kyoto protocol sought to do, no longer makes sense.
Why has every attempt to set prices for global carbon emissions failed? The answer can be found in one word: coal – or, rather, the fact that coal is cheap and abundant.
Burning hydrocarbons (natural gas and petrol) yields both water and CO2. By contrast, burning coal yields only C02. Moreover, compared to natural gas and crude oil, coal is much cheaper per ton of CO2 released. This implies that any tax on carbon has a much higher impact on coal than on crude oil (or gas). Owners of coal mines and their clients are, therefore, strongly opposed to any tax on carbon. They constitute a small but well-organised group that wields immense lobbying power to block efforts to limit CO2 emissions by putting a price on them, as the planned US cap-and-trade system would have done.
In Europe, indigenous coal production no longer plays an important economic role. It is thus not surprising that Europe could enact a cap-and-trade system that imposes a carbon price on a large part of its industry. Indeed, the tax seems to fall mostly on foreign suppliers of coal (and to a lesser extend on foreign suppliers of hydrocarbons in the Middle East and Russia). By contrast, opposition by US states whose economies rely significantly on coal production proved decisive for the fate of Obama's climate-change bill.
The US experience has wider implications. If it proved impossible to introduce a moderate carbon tax in a rich economy, it is certain that no commitment will be forthcoming for the next generation from China, which remains much poorer and depends even more on indigenous coal than the US. And, after China, India looms as the next emerging coal-based industrial superpower.
Without any significant commitment from the US, the Copenhagen accord, so laboriously achieved last year, has become meaningless. Business will now continue as usual, both in terms of climate-change diplomacy, with its travelling circus of big international meetings, and in terms of rapidly increasing emissions.
The meetings are aimed at creating the impression that the world's leaders are still working on a solution to the problem. But rising CO2 emissions constitute what is really happening on the ground: a rapidly growing industrial base in emerging markets is being hard-wired to intensive use of coal. This will make it exceedingly difficult to reverse the trend in the future.
A planet composed of nation-states that in turn are dominated by special interest groups does not seem capable of solving this problem. Unfortunately, there is enough cheap coal around to power ever-higher emissions for at least another century. The world will thus certainly become much warmer. The only uncertainty is how much warmer that will be.
Determined action at the global level will become possible only when climate change is no longer some scientific prediction, but a reality that people feel. But, at that point, it will be too late to reverse the impact of decades of excessive emissions. A world incapable of preventing climate change will have to live with it.
• Daniel Gros is director of the Centre for European Policy Studies.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2010.
Daniel Gros
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 August 2010 12.20 BST
Sometimes the most important news is what is not happening. This summer has given us one such example: the climate-change bill, for which President Barack Obama had pushed so hard, will not even be presented to the US Senate, because it stands no chance of passage.
This means that the US is about to repeat its "Kyoto experience". Twenty years ago, in 1990, the US participated (at least initially) in the first global talks aimed at achieving a global accord to reduce CO2 emissions. At the time, the EU and the US were by far the greatest emitters, so it seemed appropriate to exempt the world's emerging economies from any commitment. Over time, it became apparent that the US would not live up to its commitment, owing, as now, to opposition in the Senate. The EU then went ahead on its own, introducing its path-breaking European Emission Trading System in the hope that Europe could lead by example.
Without the American climate-change package, the promises made by the US administration only seven months ago at the Copenhagen summit have become worthless. The European strategy is in tatters – and not only on the transatlantic front.
China's commitment to increase the CO2 efficiency of its economy by about 3% per year is of no help, because annual GDP growth rates of close to 10% mean that the country's emissions will soar during this decade. Indeed, by 2020, Chinese emissions could be more than triple those of Europe and even surpass those of the US and Europe combined. Exempting emerging markets from any commitments, as the Kyoto protocol sought to do, no longer makes sense.
Why has every attempt to set prices for global carbon emissions failed? The answer can be found in one word: coal – or, rather, the fact that coal is cheap and abundant.
Burning hydrocarbons (natural gas and petrol) yields both water and CO2. By contrast, burning coal yields only C02. Moreover, compared to natural gas and crude oil, coal is much cheaper per ton of CO2 released. This implies that any tax on carbon has a much higher impact on coal than on crude oil (or gas). Owners of coal mines and their clients are, therefore, strongly opposed to any tax on carbon. They constitute a small but well-organised group that wields immense lobbying power to block efforts to limit CO2 emissions by putting a price on them, as the planned US cap-and-trade system would have done.
In Europe, indigenous coal production no longer plays an important economic role. It is thus not surprising that Europe could enact a cap-and-trade system that imposes a carbon price on a large part of its industry. Indeed, the tax seems to fall mostly on foreign suppliers of coal (and to a lesser extend on foreign suppliers of hydrocarbons in the Middle East and Russia). By contrast, opposition by US states whose economies rely significantly on coal production proved decisive for the fate of Obama's climate-change bill.
The US experience has wider implications. If it proved impossible to introduce a moderate carbon tax in a rich economy, it is certain that no commitment will be forthcoming for the next generation from China, which remains much poorer and depends even more on indigenous coal than the US. And, after China, India looms as the next emerging coal-based industrial superpower.
Without any significant commitment from the US, the Copenhagen accord, so laboriously achieved last year, has become meaningless. Business will now continue as usual, both in terms of climate-change diplomacy, with its travelling circus of big international meetings, and in terms of rapidly increasing emissions.
The meetings are aimed at creating the impression that the world's leaders are still working on a solution to the problem. But rising CO2 emissions constitute what is really happening on the ground: a rapidly growing industrial base in emerging markets is being hard-wired to intensive use of coal. This will make it exceedingly difficult to reverse the trend in the future.
A planet composed of nation-states that in turn are dominated by special interest groups does not seem capable of solving this problem. Unfortunately, there is enough cheap coal around to power ever-higher emissions for at least another century. The world will thus certainly become much warmer. The only uncertainty is how much warmer that will be.
Determined action at the global level will become possible only when climate change is no longer some scientific prediction, but a reality that people feel. But, at that point, it will be too late to reverse the impact of decades of excessive emissions. A world incapable of preventing climate change will have to live with it.
• Daniel Gros is director of the Centre for European Policy Studies.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2010.