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EU to VW: Don't worry about CO2 rules
Published: 11 Oct 12 13:02 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20121011-45499.html
European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has written a letter to Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, assuring him that new EU restrictions on CO2 limits will not harm the auto giant.
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But carmakers can dodge the limits by building a few electric cars, which will bring down the average emissions for the whole fleet.
In the letter, dated July 6 and quoted in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday, Oettinger told Winterkorn that "the discussion about our CO2 policy for cars after 2020 will be completely open."
The letter was a reply to a request from Winterkorn to the commissioner, dated July 5, asking him to make sure that VW would not be put at a disadvantage by the new restrictions, which were released on July 11.
"Oettinger has contributed to watering down the climate requirements," Greenpeace climate expert Franziska Achterberg told the paper.
The European Commission is also doing what it can to protect the auto industry in other ways. Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani recently called for Europe's industry to be the bloc's main priority. A joint op-ed written by Oettinger and Tajani in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that the car industry needs to be protected from "a disproportionate burden."
The Local/bk
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Your comments about this article:
No regulation by man is necessary because CO2 is not a pollutant; it is part of the animal-plant life cycle. Without it, life would not exist on Earth. Increased CO2 in the atmosphere increases plant growth, which is a very good thing during a period of world population growth and an increasing demand for food.
Are you kidding? Yes CO2 can and is absorbed by the planet's vegetation and oceans. The problem is they cannot absorb it as fast as we produce it. Global warming is a natural phenomenon that has been cyclically occurring for thousands of years. So why the fuss? Thanks to us, its occurring at a rate faster then ever before. Leaving organisms all over no time to adapt to the changing conditions (especially a warmer, increasingly acidic ocean). But then again, you probably don't believe in evolution either.
yes, nature is a self-regulating mechanism. unfortunately for humans (yes, women are part of the equation too) if we over-pollute, nature will self-regulate our population down.
any population in a closed system which creates so much waste that resources required for life (clean air, water, food) are reduced, will eventually decline.
feel free test your theory by running the car in the garage with just you and a pot-plant locked in. let me know how that works out for you.
It's interesting that the environmental lobby (and I'm not grouping you in this category as I don't know your full views), are very vocal about man-made pollution from cars, power generation etc., on the grounds that it's unsustainable, however I don't here too many arguments from the same side against other human interventions that also impact nature's ability to self-regulate. For example medical and other scientific advances that reduce infant mortality, fight disease, improve the supply of food, prolong life etc, could also be contributing to the same problem, i.e. more people competing for scarce natural resources.
Are "positively perceived" scientific advancements contributing to a lack of sustainability as much as "negatively perceived" developments? Discuss!
Although co2 is not a major greenhouse gas molecularly, as apposed to some, say, CFC's, the sheer quantity produced makes it the biggest influence on our natural system, that we currently are aware of. Co2 absorbed by land plants as they grow, but 99.9% of the time when the plant dies, that gas is released. Only rarely does it get trapped and converted into things like oil. Co2 absorbed in water based plant form or dissolved co2, which contains virtually all the planets co2 takes time. The micro organisms which build their nifty little shells out of the co2 can only work so fast. Also, the dissolved co2 comes from erosion, which is a geological process which takes a great deal of time.
The great problem is the system is over saturated. The natural systems are not keeping up. The biggest concern I can see so far is the acidity of the oceans will slowly increase as more co2 is absorbed. Should the plant and animal life which deals with ~90% of the produced co2 can not adapt to this increase in acidity, we are totally, without any hope, buggered. Their populations will decrease and not increase with the abundance of extra 'food'.
I agree that human input is quite small in the whole natural cycle. I think a fraction of 1% of all the greenhouse gasses can be linked to human activity. Thing is, it might be enough to upset the system and make it uninhabitable to humans.
there are quite a few groups concerned with the contributing factors you've mentioned. maybe GE crops just don't sound as apocalyptic (wait until you see what they do to the locusts), or perhaps the science is not so easily reduced into a black and white playing field for politicians to kick footballs back and forth on.
unless you're a farmer, you probably wouldn't have been exposed to any information regarding the use of pesticides, fertilisers, modified crops or sustainable farming practices vs. supply and demand ethics.
if you are interested, there is at least one fairly solid-sounding international group concerned with the food-side of sustainability, i know of (and i'm sure there are many others). google "slow-food". they have a german branch with very well-educated and helpful team organising talks & promoting concern for sustainable practices in this field.