Monday, July 30, 2007

EU Emission Caps, Kyoto and Three Ancient Civilizations

Arcelor Mittal, the world's biggest steel company, has warned that a blitz of planned investments in Europe to meet booming demand is threatened by strict new EU caps on greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change.

At the opening of the group's new $381m (£188m) hot strip mill in Krakow, Michel Wurth, board member in charge of flat products in Europe, said: "By cutting the allocation of CO2 quotas, the European commission will limit our growth possibilities in Europe and encourage a surge of imports from countries unaffected by such controls."

Do you think Mittal might think twice before creating another job in Europe? My bets would be India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia or just about anywhere south of Kyoto.

There is no perfect answer but Kyoto wasn't even close.

The Europeans thought they were gaming the "Cap" by backdating the start date.
The Americans thought they were gaming the treaty by insisting on "Trade".

The Indians and Chinese said "Sure, send us the money".

The Westerners thought they would out-negotiate people who've been negotiating for 5000 years.

As a side note, in December 1979, as silver was making its historic run, an old Jewish trader told me he was lightening up on Ag.

When I asked why he said "I hear the Indian ladies are taking their bracelets off and they've been trading it longer than I have".

From the Guardian