IHT: U.S. to get European proposal on gas emissions

U.S. to get European proposal on gas emissions

By James Kanter
Published: January 23, 2009

BRUSSELS: The European Commission is preparing to call on the United States to create a trans-Atlantic system of carbon trading to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to press for the establishment of similar markets spanning the developed world, according to a draft document seen Friday by the International Herald Tribune.

The European proposal comes as the United States under President Barack Obama enters a period of intense debate over whether to adopt such market-based systems or use a more straightforward tax to limit planet-warming gases from industry.

Europe created the largest single market for trading carbon permits in 2005. Since then, Australia and some groups of American states have begun their own initiatives. But the European system has come under fire for doing too little to stop pollution and for creating vast windfall profits for some industries that it was designed to target, like coal-burning utilities.

The EU document, which was circulating Friday, and which could change over the weekend, describes the stance of EU officials as they prepare for international talks in Copenhagen in December on a climate treaty to take the place of the Kyoto protocol. The first phase of the Kyoto treaty expires in 2012.

…