The European Union's flagship climate chance project is collapsing

Another piece of good news from the European Union: the EU's  "flagship" climate change project, the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) is close to a collapse:

Indeed, the market for carbon credits has reached new lows. On Thursday, the price of carbon credits dropped 40 percent within 30 seconds before regaining most of the losses. In an indicator of just how vulnerable ETS threatens to become, the volatility followed a nearly meaningless vote for a non-binding recommendation by the industry committee of the European Parliament that the backloading plan be rejected.

Energy-heavy industries and coal-dependent countries like Poland argue against market intervention in the ETS while noting that higher carbon prices leads to higher energy costs that result in a burden on businesses while European economies remain weak. The arguments against intervention may be working, as Germany -- which also harbors deep concerns about the burden cap-and-trade could have on industry -- continues to stall, and the ETS remains mostly useless. A failure on backloading would likely drop carbon credits to a level only slightly above penny stocks.

"This should be the final wake-up call," said EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, according to wire reports. "Something has to be done urgently. I can therefore only appeal to the governments and the European Parliament to act responsibly."

Indeed, the failure of the ETS should be a wake-up call for all sane European - and international - decision makers: It is time time to sink the senseless ETS "flagship" and start concentrating on solving real problems! 

Putin's popularity in free fall

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s approval rating fell this month to the lowest level since 2000, according to an independent poll published today:

Sixty-two percent of Russians approve of Putin’s performance, the lowest since June 2000, according to the Jan. 18-21 poll of 1,596 people by the Moscow-based Levada Center. That’s down from 72 percent two years ago, showed the poll, which had a 3.4 percent margin of error.

Thirty-seven percent of Russians disapprove of his rule, the most ever, according to the poll released today.

Putin's downward trend is also visible in Google Trends, showing the number of searches in Russia since 2004 which include the word Putin. Young and educated Russians have deserted the dictator long ago. Others are slowly but certainly following their lead ....

Iceland was able to recover from financial collapse because it is outside of the EU

The president Iceland does not see any reason for his country to join the European Union:

Iceland’s revival from its financial collapse and the prosperity of nations outside the European Union show that membership in the bloc isn’t needed to achieve economic success, President Olafur R. Grimsson said.

“There are a few countries in the world which have succeeded the way Switzerland has,” he said today in an interview in Davos, Switzerland. “And then look at Norway and my country, Iceland, which has recovered from a financial crisis more effectively than Europe. So it’s difficult to argue the case that you have to be in the EU to be successful.”

As the EU battles to rescue the 17-nation euro region from the debt crisis, Iceland has recovered from its financial collapse in 2008, leading the country’s 320,000 citizens to question the logic of joining. 

Read the entire interview here

The president was rather diplomatic in the interview. He could have said, that if Iceland had been a member of the European Union, it would NOT have been able to recover. 

Whole Foods Market founder on global warming: " I don't think that's that big a deal"

John Mackey, the founder and CEO of  Whole Foods Market, with 340 stores selling organic produce worldwide, has a very sensible approach to global warming:

“I haven’t been outspoken about global warming. I’ve been smeared quite a bit in the media about it – all of a sudden, I’m a climate change denier. I mean, climate change is obviously occurring. So -- it's gotten a little bit warmer. I guess my position on it is that I don't think that's that big a deal. Actually, humanity’s flourished usually when temperatures gradually warmed. And humans gradually adapt to it,” he told Off the Cuff.
As for regulation to reduce global warming, he said, “We can probably eliminate poverty on the planet earth in the next 50 years if we will just continue to follow the tenets of free enterprise capitalism to the greatest extent possible. So I just don't want to see that change.”

Read the entire article here

The EUSSR in action: EU commission orders eight million charging points for electric cars to be installed

EUSSR in action

"Their way of thinking is based on an almost communist type of reasoning: Economic laws do not exist, politics may dictate economics"
Václav Klaus

The EUSSR was again in full action today. EU Politburo member Siim Kallas announced that eight million charging points for electric cars, out of which 800 000 have to be public, must be established in the European Union members countries until 2020. 

At the press conference in Brussels today, Kallas (Commissar in charge of transportation) also announced that the Politburo has agreed a new European standard for the charging points, the Common Compulsory EU Plug.

Commissioner Kallas has estimated the cost of building green infrastructure of transport at €10bn until 2020, compared with the the EU's €1bn a day cost of importing oil.

Read the entire article here

A highly misleading comparison. The oil is used to power millions of vehicles, without which Europeans and European industry and commerce would be unable to function, whereas the reality for electric cars is this:

"To me, this electric hype is inexplicable," Fritz Indra, a doyen in vehicle development, recently told the trade magazine Automobil Industrie. The honorary professor at Vienna University of Technology and former head engine developer at Opel and General Motors still sees a good deal of "open questions" -- and no satisfying answers. 
The first electric cars that aren't DIY projects and offer acceptable crash protection have arrived in the dealerships. Most of them are no-frills mini-vehicles that cost as much as a mid-sized sedans and can only take you a short distance and back on a single battery charge if you're lucky enough to avoid heavy traffic. Of course, that's not the case in the winter, when energy-sapping interior heating significantly diminishes its range. And if it runs out of juice on the road, no jerry can will help. Your only option is to call a tow truck. 
With all the drawbacks of this type of car, you have to be a true believer in electric mobility to imagine that there really are one million people out there who want to have one.

Another realistic view:
"The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society's needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge,"  
Takeshi Uchiyamada 
Vice chairman, Toyota

The building of the "green infrastructure of transport" in Europe will be nothing but a huge waste of taxpayers' money. One can only hope that this madness will be stopped in time. 

Natural gas and liquefied natural gas - the fuels of the future - are mentioned in Kallas's  fuel "mix", but by concentrating on underdeveloped and ineffective electric cars, the Politburo is - as almost always - betting on the wrong horse. And environmentally, electric cars do not make much sense, either.  

David Cameron: Britain will not be part of "a centralized political union" in Europe

David Cameron's message in Davos today was the right one:

 Speaking at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Cameron warned European leaders against forcing member countries into ever-deeper political union. "Countries in Europe have their histories, their traditions, their institutions, want their own sovereignty, their ability to make their own choices," Cameron said. "And to try and shoehorn countries into a centralized political union would be a great mistake for Europe, and Britain wouldn't be part of it."

Perhaps Cameron really had been reading the speech Václav Klaus's gave a couple of days ago?

Nile Gardiner on Cameron's EU speech

Nile Gardiner's comment to David Cameron's EU speech is worth reading:
David Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum is an historic step in the right direction. But his support for continuing British membership of a failing European Union is deeply misguided. In many respects this speech was a lost opportunity. This could have been a Churchillian moment for the prime minister, declaring support for a British exit from the European Union, and pledging to fully restore British sovereignty.

Unfortunately, Mr. Cameron remains in denial about the prospects for transforming the EU and advancing British interests within it. Britain’s future as a free and great nation rests upon its ability to frame its own laws, shape its own foreign, defence, economic and trade policies, and to decide its own destiny. All of this is threatened by the European Project, which is heading only towards the goal of ever closer union, regardless of the cost to individual liberty, national sovereignty and economic prosperity. As Margaret Thatcher once put it, “that such an unnecessary and irrational project as building a European superstate was ever embarked upon will seem in future years to be perhaps the greatest folly of the modern era.” Wise advice from the Iron Lady, words that the prime minister should heed.

Read the entire article here

PS

Cameron should have read Václav Klaus's remarks from yesterday before he gave his EU speech.