Financial Times today

There were a couple of interesting articles relating to the export of CO2 in the Financial Times today.

The first article reports: "Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, warned China on Tuesday that the European Union could penalise cheap imports from high carbon-emitting countries in order to defend European companies that are obliged to meet strict environmental standards." Details on the penalties were not provided, but one can certainly imagine a CO2 tariff as discussed on this web site.

The second article reports on comments made by EU Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen to give concessions to Europe's heavy industries: "Manufacturers of items such as aluminium, steel, base chemicals and semi-conductors should be granted free permits to emit greenhouse gases under the bloc’s emissions trading scheme (ETS), Günter Verheugen, Commission vice-president with responsibility for industry and enterprise, told the Financial Times." The reasoning behind this proposal is that companies in these sectors may leave Europe otherwise.

I think what Günter Verheugen jumps to conclusions here. While I certainly agree with the problem statement. I disagree with the solution. I would rather see a solutions which creates an level playing field, for example through CO2 tariffs on imports from countries without CO2 cutting commitments.