Juxtapose these statements in different media reports today out of Europe about their aspirations for our adopting measures that would eliminate us once and for all as an economic competitor.
First, brought to our attention by OpenEurope, is:
Swedish MEP: “EU climate plan will only achieve one third of what the US will achieve”
At a conference in Brussels on climate change policy, Swedish MEP Anders Wijkman said that the EU climate package which was approved in December will only lead to 4 or 5 percent reductions in emissions, while the US will manage at the same time to achieve a reduction of 16 to 17 percent. Wijkman commented that “us criticising them is possibly not the right thing to do”. He said he was “not convinced” by the EU’s Emissions Trading System, but said that “a lot of revenue and prestige has gotten into the ETS system, so it is not realistic to have another system”.
Then, from ClimateWire (subscription required):
Hope lingers for more ambitious U.S. emission targets
“Finally, [European policymakers] hope that the U.S. Congress will adopt more ambitious mitigation targets than those presented by Obama, and that the bill introduced in the House by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will not be distorted by amendments.”
Meanwhile, Agence France Presse reports that EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas expects the U.S. to open its wallet to help lead the fight against climate change, which will require some 175 billion euros annually until 2020.
As noted previously in another context — about a different bunch who see the U.S. as suckers, ready to fall for anything in our desperate, post-Bush search for the world’s approval on slaying the Loch Nes . . . er, stopping climate change!: “Yeah. If you could just go ahead and make sure you do that from now on, that would be greeeaat.”