Why Is Congress So Eager to Copy Failure?
Posted February 6th, 2008 at 1:53pm in Energy and Environment 
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The Los Angeles Times reports today that “the climate may be right for a global warming bill” due to “big chunk of industry” just wanting to get something done. Unfortunately much of the legislation on Capitol Hill is modeled after the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme, and that effort has abjectly failed. Since the program was implemented EU emissions from relevant sectors have risen .8% and are well above the Kyoto target (See here for why the EU scheme has failed).
Now the EU has launched a “20 20 by 2020 plan” that is more of the same command and control nonsense. Ironically, the US, which is not party to the Kyoto Protocol, is actually amassing a better track record than most Western European countries. Since 2000, emissions from Western European nations have been rising more than twice as fast as those in the United States. Instead of bowing to the EU’s empty moral grandstanding, Washington should follow a truly pro-market approach that avoids mandatory targets and focuses on technological development.
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