Last week, the BBC did a report on the European Union’s carbon trading scheme failing so miserably that CO2 emissions in the region have actually increased since the strategy was implemented.
Think any American television news division would touch this story save maybe Fox News?
Regardless of the answer, BBC.com presented some of the findings on June 5 (h/t Willis Eschenbach):
The EU's carbon trading scheme has increased electricity bills, given a windfall to power companies and failed to cut greenhouse gases, it is claimed.
An investigation by BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme has found that after two and half years the scheme has yet to cut in carbon dioxide emissions.
The consumer body Energywatch said customers are getting a raw deal.
Can you imagine Katie, Charlie, or Brian logging such a report? The article continued (emphasis added):
[The EU’s Emission Trading Scheme] is essentially a permit to pollute.
Power generators received their allowances free of charge but were allowed to reflect the value of those in increased prices to customers, as if the companies had actually had to buy the allowances.
Energywatch believes this increased electricity bills by about 7% in 2005.
And according to one government estimate, that delivered windfall profits of up to £1.3bn to the generators in that year - higher than environmental campaigners had claimed last year.
However, so far the carbon scheme has brought no clear payback in terms of cutting emissions.
Provisional government figures from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) suggest CO2 output in Britain actually went up, by 1.25% last year wiping out a slight drop of 0.01% in 2005.
It is also reckoned that CO2 emissions across the EU also rose by between 1 and 1.5% over the last two years.
Amazing. Any questions why this will likely never be reported in America?
