They discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012

By threatening to become a candidate in the elections if policies are not mobilizing to combat global warming, Nicolas Hulot has succeeded its move, waking up the spirits. Yesterday, at the end of an inter-ministerial Committee on sustainable development at Matignon, the Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, announced a number of measures to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) in France (see below) and wished that the Government was considering, "from now", the establishment of a tax carbon European on imports of industrial products from countries that refuse to engage in the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol. "We will make concrete proposals in our European partners in this sense in the first quarter of 2007", he added.

New on the political level, this position is also brutal diplomatically. Since the start of negotiations on the fight against global warming, the texts include the principle of equality, that industrialized countries are the first to make efforts because they started the first to produce CO2. From the point of view of the Government, the situation has changed now: China produces each year 4.7 billion tonnes and is poised to exceed the United States. Each year, the growth of its emissions represents the equivalent of chaque des Chaque, croissance represents It is time for this country to take part in the international effort. By threatening to set up a European tax on the import of industrial products, the Government wants to restore a balance. Because 1 tonne of cement contributes to emit 1 ton of CO2. The Europeans have obligations, and the cement imported from China or India steel is subject to no constraints.

The obstacle of the WTO

This proposal comes as negotiators from around the world are preparing to arrive in Nairobi for the twelfth Conference of the parties to the climate Convention. They discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol after 2012. Six years before the expiry of the first commitment period, the France threat in the hope of pushing large developing countries to make voluntary commitments to reduce. "So far, nobody has discussed a any scenario of retaliation." "The current negotiations have focused on the development of a new international regime of commitment corresponding to the levels of development of each country", was surprised Pierre Radane, former President of the Agency for energy (management Ademe). This recognized expert discussions skating because of us opposition, but a solution is under study. The large countries which emission levels are already very high, as the Mexico and the Korea of the South, integrate the system of quotas. The major developing countries would have the opportunity to increase their emissions, but according to a rate lower than today ' today. Their commitments would be binding. Finally, for the most disadvantaged, no constraint is imposed, but most virtuous may sell their rights to pollute.

The proposal of Paris will be difficult to accept in Brussels. On the one hand, the European Executive judge insufficient reduction quotas imposed by the French Government to industrialists. On the other hand, the European regulation provides that the tax measures must be adopted unanimously. Finally, it will continue to pass the hurdle of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which prohibits any interference with competition. "Lose no that the time constraint is strong to avoid an irreversible change." "The WTO provides the possibility of introducing charges, provided that they are not discriminatory," says Jean-Marc Jankovici, another recognized expert on climate, who has worked with Nicolas Hulot to propose the establishment of a continuous and progressive carbon tax on fossil fuels.