UN climate expert warns against US carbon tariffs, COP 15
Release Date: 2009-07-22
Trade tariffs in a House-passed bill to limit heat-trapping pollution could undermine US efforts to persuade developing countries to enter into a new global warming treaty, says IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri.The head of a UN panel on the science of climate change says that trade tariffs in a House-passed bill to limit heat-trapping pollution have only served to irritate international negotiations and could undermine US efforts to persuade developing countries to enter into a new global warming treaty.
Rajendra Pachauri, whose Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore in 2007, told The Associated Press that lawmakers should remove the tariff provision, which in 2020 would impose a "border adjustment" on goods from countries that do not limit the gases linked to global warming.
He warned that developing countries could in turn tax US exports, which are likely some of the most carbon-intensive in the world.
"This is a dangerous thing, and I think people in Congress must understand this," said Pachauri, who spoke with the AP after he addressed the National Press Club. "Please don't use this weapon."
"I'm afraid that those that have been pushing these provisions probably don't realize that all of this can cause a major negative reaction," Pachauri added. "The United States has always stood for a free market system ... legislation to move away from that principle is clearly counterproductive."
Pachauri's comments come as the Senate begins work on the House version of the bill in the hopes of passing the measure before nations meet in December in Copenhagen to hammer out a new global warming treaty.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | COP 15 |
| Country: | Denmark |
| Url: | http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=1751 |