Without so much as a farewell tip of the hat, President Barack Obama has pulled the plug on his much-promoted goal of comprehensive climate-change legislation. In his agenda-setting State of the Union address, he dropped any U.S. move toward EU-style cap and trade. Significantly, the word “climate” was never uttered.
Pelicans and marsh grass were not the only victims of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Another casualty was in Britain among some people there who felt aggrieved that their country seemed to get no specially gentle handling from the White House in the name of the “special relationship” between the U.S. and UK. That longstanding concept of a special bilateral tie has only slowly faded in London, even under the new government. But decision-makers in Washington have been saying privately for years that it no longer exists, except in special circumstances such as the wars in the Falklands and the Gulf.
During this seminar, experts from both sides of the Atlantic discussed and debated key ideas and mechanisms for reducing global carbon emissions and containing costs. Panelists addressed the debate between the cap and trade system and carbon tax as well as internationalizing efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The speakers noted that effective market measures are critical to making real progress and that the continuing debate between cap and trade and carbon tax measures is crucial for driving innovation and investment.
© COPYRIGHT THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE 2009
You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from our site and redistribute by email or post to the web.