03
Dec 2008 - Poznan, Poland: Fears that companies
will simply relocate to “pollution havens”
in the face of tougher climate policies
and damage the international competitiveness
of countries have little support from the
evidence, a WWF survey presented this morning
to the Poznan climate conference has shown.
”When discussing targets
for emission reductions in Poznan today,
industrialized countries should leave their
competitiveness fears at the door,” said
Kim Carstensen, leader of the WWF Global
Climate Initiative.
“Deep cuts in CO2 will
neither drive industries abroad nor ruin
national economies. They protect nations
from future climate damage, give them the
competitive edge of an early mover, and
create millions of green jobs.”
Industry scaremongering
and the painting of doom and gloom scenarios
about the impact of climate policies on
competitiveness continue to be a significant
restraint on policy in the developed world,
with fierce domestic lobbying for unambitious
emissions reductions targets delaying a
planned Australian government announcement
on targets this week.
The Australian announcement
had originally been intended to coincide
with the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change summit in Poznan. The summit needs
to prepare much of the architecture in order
for a post-Kyoto international agreement,
to be concluded next year, to be considered
a success.
WWF's survey of studies
on impacts on competitiveness finds little
support from economists for impacts on national
competitiveness and, while relocation is
a possibility for some energy intensive
industries, “practice appears much more
complex than theory”.
A decade long study
of “leakage effects” from environmental
taxation in Europe found very small and
sometimes negative leakage effects due to
technology improvement spurred by the regulatory
initiatives.
The report also notes
that the creation of new and expanded markets,
for instance in energy efficiency and alternative
energy, is ofter greater than any competitive
losses especially for “early movers” in
emerging markets.
“On the other hand,
lax standards in vehicle fuel efficiency
are widely known to have had an adverse
impact General Motors' international competitiveness,
as the demand for fuel-efficient cars increases
throughout the world,” the report notes.
With another study finding
that the relationship between climate policy
and relocation being “statistically weak
and insufficient for policy-making”, the
survey goes on to note that actual increases
in production costs from climate policies
are often moderate and “international trade
is more complex than that depicted by corporate
lobbyists”.
“To find solutions for
the few manufacturing activities that are
potentially exposed to competitiveness and
leakage concerns, further detailed studies
are required to assess the various trade
barriers that determine
their ability to pass on costs, and the
determinants of location of new investments,”
the study says
“Economic studies suggest that industrial
competitiveness is a manageable issue that
requires technical solutions, not a blurry
political debate.”
WWF is urging developed
countries to commit at Poznan to emissions
cuts of 25 to 40 per cent from 11000 levels
by 2020, with developing countries also
needing to significantly reduce emissions.
+ More
Essential reading for
low-carbon lifestyle
01 Dec 2008 - A consumer
handbook on how individuals and families
can reduce their carbon footprint and monthly
outgoings has been published today by WWF.
The WWF Pocket Guide to a One Planet Lifestyle
contains top tips on how to be more environmentally-friendly
in the home, the workplace and when planning
a holiday.
The booklet’s publication
follows the recent launch by WWF of their
“Living Planet Report” which warned that
humanity was heading towards an “ecological
credit crunch”. It revealed that we currently
use 30 per cent more resources than the
planet’s ecosystems can naturally replenish.
If everyone on earth had the same lifestyle
as an average North American, we would need
five planets to meet the demands for energy
and resources. Europeans have a “three planet
lifestyle”.
The One Planet Lifestyle
guide also attempts to set a new standard
in sustainable publishing. Available primarily
as an online e-book, the printed version
is produced digitally on-demand on FSC certified
paper and bound by screw rivets so that
readers can easily unbind the book and insert
updates, thus avoiding the need for printing
new editions. The paper size has been chosen
to reduce wastage to virtually zero, and
only uses non-hazardous inks.
