Thursday, December 16, 2004

On the other hand, take a look at Brazil But in the meantime, some (countries as well as companies) may not be depending on Kyoto to chart a strategic direction that makes intrinsic sense, across several value axes. For example, this excerpt from Worldchanging post on Brazil earlier this week: Lula: 'Brazil Is More Than Carnaval and Street Kids.' It's also a growing economy, running a massive and successful microcredit program, investing in biodiesel as a strategic priority, making a big move into wind energy and opening its carbon emissions trading program. 11:34:15 PM    comment []  trackback []

EU: Last Legs of the Kyoto Treaty? Stratfor offers a fairly discouraging word. Here's the summary: The Italian environmental minister suggested Dec. 15 that the U.N.'s Kyoto Treaty on climate change should be allowed to die in 2012 if the world's largest countries do not sign on during a planned second commitment period. The minister's comment follows the United Kingdom's revelation that it could fail to reach its greenhouse-gas reduction requirements. The European Commission also recently reported that four EU countries had not qualified to participate in the bloc's emissions-credits trading scheme. The Kyoto Treaty increasingly is becoming a focus solely of the European Union, which lacks the ability to implement and enforce it among its own members. Unfortunately, the article doesn't speculate on the global impacts of abandoning Kyoto. Too many people, businesses and political leaders won't pay attention to the physical as well as economic prospects, I guess, until the rising water is lapping at their feet, at which point will likely take decades of increasing damage to reverse the trends. 9:47:48 PM    comment []  trackback []