According to the International Herald Tribune, the European Union is willing to involve the most polluting countries in the mitigation of climate change.
To do this, it might implement commercial sanctions to non signatory countries of international agreements. Among these countries are the United States and China.
This might be a serious drive for these countries to move, even if some people fear it could lead to the opposite reaction.
As the IHT notes :
European Union leaders have warned the United States, China and other major polluters that their industries could face EU sanctions if they do not sign up to an international agreement on fighting global warming by next year.
“If international negotiations fail appropriate measures can be taken,” the 27 EU leaders said Friday in declaration after a two-day summit.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy went further. “Our main concern is to set up a mechanism that would allow us to strike against the imports of countries that don’t play by the rules of the game on environmental protection,” he told reporters.
The warning came as the economic turndown focused European minds on the impact on industry of their groundbreaking agreement last year to cut carbon emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.
European leaders are hoping for similar commitments from other major economies at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, next year. Otherwise they say protection will be needed for European companies who will face unfair competition from heavily polluting rivals in China or the United States — the world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.
“Industry, faced with global competition could be exposed to a real disadvantage if no international climate accord is struck, but we in Europe have very strict rules,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germany and Britain are wary about the threat of sanctions, fearing that waving a big stick at the Chinese and Americans could make it harder to strike a compromise.
“I don’t think we should allow things to stand in the way of getting the best possible international agreement,” cautioned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Source : EU leaders commit to new year-end climate change deadline
To me this is a good thing as it might push the most polluting nations to work on climate change. The fact that there are negotiations before might give time to the above-mentioned countries to work by themselves on this most important issue.
We will see when further news arise the outcome of these new policies.
So, for this and for much more, stay tuned and don’t hesitate to leave your opinion on this topic and write a comment as I would gladly read you.