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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 7-8, JULY-AUGUST 1993

NEWS...
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

Item #d93jul70

The United Kingdom remains the major roadblock to acceptance of the E.C. carbon/energy tax, and lack of progress on the tax now appears to be hindering E.C. acceptance of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. At a June 28 meeting of E.C. environment ministers, The Netherlands and Germany insisted it would be wrong to ratify the convention since the tax is necessary for meeting the E.C. commitment for CO₂ reduction: stabilizing CO₂ emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000. (See Global Environ. Change Rep., p. 3, July 9 1993, and feature report in Energy, Econ. & Clim. Change, pp. 2-4, June 1993.) The E.C. Environment Commissioner will produce, by the end of September, a study on how E.C. member states are sharing the burden of CO₂ stabilization (Intl. Environ. Rptr., p. 465, June 30). The study is intended to help convince the U.K. that the tax is necessary.

The E.C. recently adopted two energy programs it says will help reach the CO₂ stabilization goal-SAVE (energy efficiency standards), and ALTENER (development of renewable energy sources). However, the European Association for the Conservation of Energy argues that the Save program was severely watered down from its original form, and is unlikely to contribute much to CO₂ control. (See ibid., pp. 470-471; New Scientist, p. 11, July 3 1993)