New German Carbon Quotas: "Pathetic"
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 06.28.06
How the mighty have fallen... Shame on the usually green German government who apparently caved in to big business lobby pressure and released a plan to cut carbon emissions from industry by a whopping 0.63% by 2012. "These figures are unbelievable, pathetically unambitious," said Regina Gunther from WWF Germany. "It is shameful that our environment minister has agreed to this." Professor Michael Grubb of the UK Carbon Trust: "I have been a big supporter of the EU ETS, but hearing the German news I feel more depressed than I ever have done about our ability to tackle climate change." How bad is it really? "Last year German industries were so successful in lobbying that their government handed them 21 million more tonnes of carbon permits than they actually needed," says a BBC article. "This pushed down the value of carbon in the EU ETS carbon market and made emissions savings less attractive to businesses across the EU." German TreeHugger readers, please let your representatives know what you think. To be fair, Germany is still 17.5% below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions and a leader in wind and solar technologies, but it's no reason to drop the ball now. ::Germany sets 'lax' carbon quotas. Related: ::The 4 Stages of Global Warming Denial
