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UK is lobbying to remove aviation from EU renewable targets

guardian.co.uk — Britain has been accused of trying to wreck Europe's plan to tackle climate change by lobbying to remove aviation from renewable energy targets.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 13, 2008

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  • yngtimmy, on 10/13/2008, -2/+20Carbon credits will do absolutely nothing for "global warming". All it will do is create another revenue stream for big business and government. It takes wealth and transfers it from this group to this group and in the end - NOTHING HAPPENS.
  • borez, on 10/13/2008, -2/+16They lost me at transferable carbon credits, one of the stupidest concepts I've ever heard of.

  • phreak79, on 10/13/2008, -5/+19So the first time they had carbon trading they gave away the permits for free. Now they want aviation stripped from the targets. What a bloody sham. And we have the gaul to say that we (and the rest of Europe) lead the way in fighting climate change.
  • TheAuditor, on 10/13/2008, -0/+14We have an ancient frenchman hostage? Why is he speaking for us? I don't remember making him spokesperson for EU.
  • inactive, on 10/13/2008, -4/+15 I swear I am on a planet of morons/idiots/simpletons, is that elitist?
  • subhuman, on 10/13/2008, -1/+11Um- aviation as a whole contributes less than 2% of the UK's CO2 emmisions...

    Source : FTN

    Aviation is being used a scapegoat - while it is CO2 producing - per passenger it is better than most public transport ( which is what it effectively is) and there are many worse offenders by far.
  • angryfirelord, on 10/13/2008, -1/+11No, that's being realistic.
  • doctechnical, on 10/13/2008, -1/+7You might as well get use to this, you'll be seeing more and more of it as time goes on. Of course the politicians will agree to green agendas to get elected. But when it comes time for the pain of actually *implementing* those agendas there will *always* be a reason for an exception, or a delay. Right now the perfect reason is that the economy is going to hell in a handbasket. No cash to spare for green!

    This will continue.
  • soupdawg30, on 10/13/2008, -0/+6Well played sir.
  • borez, on 10/13/2008, -2/+8Carbon credits are just another commodity that can be bought and sold. Nuff said.
  • neocr0n, on 10/13/2008, -1/+4I personally think if you really want to tackle climate change it has to start with alternative energy to homes/businesses/industry. Carbon Credits are just another way of taxing the people.
  • borez, on 10/13/2008, -1/+3Yep, they're called bureaucrats
  • gothicform, on 10/13/2008, -2/+4This is typical of the UK government who preach green whilst being unable to even meet their own very poor targets. In the Uk we have a target of 10% power coming from renewables by 2010 but the reality is that almost entirely thanks to the lack of feed-in tariffs like the rest of Western Europe we have 4% installed with 6% left to be done in 15 months.
    Wind farms are often prevented by a single spurious complaint from one individual who for example opposes the power line linking it into the grid or a report that says the wind farm may kill as many as 30 birds over 25 years - rather less than a single domestic cat.
    Britain even lost the world's commercial wave farm to Portugal because no one in the UK would fund it even though it was a British invention and British company. The Portugese who are investing huge amounts in this stepped in instead and made the company an offer to set up in Portugal which they did.
    None of this has stopped the UK shutting down power stations though in anticipation of the electricity supply they aren't building raising the spectre this time next year I might not be typing on Digg because of a blackout.
    Like most things, the UK govt are great at preaching, less so at practising. I wish they'd stop trying to greenwash everything and admit they are filthy dirty as well as filthy corrupt and just plain ***** filthy.
  • poidh, on 10/13/2008, -2/+4I think that we should use "climate change" as an excuse to tax the hell out of the peons and control them still greater.

    /EU
  • Valisk61, on 10/13/2008, -0/+2I thought they were called Mancunians?
  • inactive, on 10/13/2008, -1/+2Hopefully, this will come down on Michael O'Leary like a ton of bricks.
  • dagnome1984, on 10/13/2008, -1/+2Well duh? Who would have thought that this could be used to grab power? NO WAY!1!11!!!

  • zadadka, on 10/13/2008, -0/+1psst...."gall".
  • KnowYourNME, on 10/13/2008, -0/+1Soon to be a planet of starving/dying/enslaved. But insulting them won't open their ears to the facts.

    If you really care, then educate yourself and anyone who will listen to you.
  • unitedkronos, on 10/14/2008, -0/+1Only if the intern's male.
  • phreak79, on 10/13/2008, -0/+1well spotted.
  • Valisk61, on 10/14/2008, -0/+1Plink plink a plink twang.
  • lysdexia, on 10/14/2008, -0/+1Is it not the case that our single, greatest contributor to greenhouse gasses is farming - specifically meat and dairy production?

    Eco-sustainability would substantially benefit from more perfectly coherent views.

    Given the choice - I'd rather fly than have a burger.
  • gothicform, on 10/13/2008, -1/+2I would rather commit a lesser harm to do a greater good :)

    What has a clean efficient power generation system got to do with animal rights anyway? I eat meat. I am perfectly coherent in my views. I am not some fool who brands all "greenily, greener greens" as stereotypical crustie vegans. I simply want a sustainable economy.
  • stonewall123, on 10/14/2008, -0/+1Alot of interesting facts here: http://www.ren21.net/pdf/RE2007_Global_Status_Repo ...

    You can find out how your country compares with the rest of the EU ( See Fig 12, pg 22).
  • KegBol, on 10/13/2008, -0/+1Would you rather Gordon Brown got caught with an intern sucking him off?
  • camilos007, on 10/14/2008, -1/+2If the aviation industry is included in renewable targets, they will just pass on the expense to the consumer. I'm not sure if most of you travel, but flying is already extremely expensive. If it goes up any higher, only the rich will afford to travel by plane while the rest of us will have to save for years before we can afford a flight to anywhere.
  • Amnesia10, on 10/14/2008, -0/+1But then if we carry on flying and destroying the planet then it will be much more expensive than it needs to be to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in future. While it may be expensive now it will be totally out of reach with a few decades if we carry on being so wasteful.
  • anarchistuk, on 08/11/2009, -0/+1When you can't win, change the rules!
  • lysdexia, on 10/13/2008, -1/+1Are you the (in)famous Mrs Angry of Tunbridge Wells?

    And may I be the first to commend the beautiful way you casually tossed aside the killing of animals to meet your ideals for greenily, greener greens.

    Fly those double standards high.
  • unitedkronos, on 10/13/2008, -2/+2This just shows how sad British politics can be, the most interesting thing to happen recently is Boris Johnson being elected as Mayor of London.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson
  • shaunj66, on 10/13/2008, -1/+1No. ***** EU.
  • VigRoco, on 10/13/2008, -1/+1Climate change is complete out of our control, so this article is pointless.

    (but then again its probably only me since I am a big fan of real science)
  • Supernova36, on 10/13/2008, -4/+3Big tax breaks for the big air companies in recent years, this doesn't surprise me.
  • Valisk61, on 10/13/2008, -3/+2Get back to the farm, banjo boy.
  • rpelayo, on 10/13/2008, -7/+4Wow, I'm actually ashamed to be British right now.
  • inactive, on 10/13/2008, -8/+3***** the EU.

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