Kyoto is Lame

June 1st, 2007

Kyoto is essentially nothing more than an ‘attack the west’ campaign by environmentalists. The whole point of Kyoto is to get countries to reduce the pollution they emit. This is a noble idea. Many of the countries must reduce emissions to pre 1990 levels. But not all countries are treated equally - one big problem. Unfortunetely, the Kyoto Protocol is a horrible plan that does nothing more than transfer wealth and jobs from one country to another. It’s one step, but a step that will never fully be taken due to the economics of the agreement. Simply looking at the agreement from an economic standpoint, it won’t work.

Each country gets carbon credits they are able to use. If the country has extra carbon credits it may sell these credits to other countries which are using more than their allotted. This is where the problem starts. The trading of carbon credits. So if a country is unable to cutback, all it must do is buy carbon credits. Some countries are supposed to cut back by over 15%! There is no way they will cut back that much without new technologies. These countries will be forced to purchase more carbon credits, spending billions to do so. Instead of using billions of dollars to fund new technologies that are efficient, save money, and pollute less, the countries will be forced to spend large budgets buying carbon credits from countries that have some extra ones. Even carbon credits are a stupid idea.

China and India are not required to reduce emissions. The two largest countries in the world (population wise) which are industrializing very quickly do not need to worry about environment. So why did they sign? If they have extra credits, they may sell them to the western countries for billions of dollars. That is the problem. Why would Canada want to spend billions of dollars to buy carbon credits from China or Russia? Canada has cleaner technology and stricter environmental standards than China. Yet, environmentalists forget that any jobs being lost due to Kyoto will end up in a country that probably pollutes far worse due to inefficient technologies. That money would simply be used to help build their own economy. Does China really care about the environment? More than 500 coal fired plants are currently being constructed in China, how many of them do you think utilize clean coal technology? Why should a country like Canada transfer its wealth and jobs to China? So the Chinese can afford to build more environmentally inefficient power generating technologies that spill out way more pollution?

Plus, by buying credits, this means that no emission reductions have occurred, and in effect, emissions may have increased. There are other elements to the Kyoto Protocol which aren’t so bad. But this is right where the Kyoto Protocol gets the boot.

The correct way to fix the problem would be to implement a list of things countries can do that will also help - and have a date that certain things must be done. Changing light bulbs to LED or florescent saves a huge amount of energy and lowers pollution. That’s just one idea. These are things countries can do, and may even make economic sense. Requiring countries to develop or fund technologies which would reduce pollution is another great idea. Most taxpayers would probably rather have the money spent to hire researchers, inventors, and scientists to start working on developing efficient technology that also makes economic sense. This would build a brand new industry in the home country, so no money is flowing out needlessly. Wouldn’t that be a better idea than giving money to a country which pollutes its own rivers and turns a blind eye to its own environment? Kyoto is lame. It’s nothing more than the politicians sitting down with some hippy environmentalists (which know absolutely nothing about economics) to create a document to buy votes and sound good.

The solution to the problem is to develop new technologies. That is the only real solution. Finding and investing in companies that can do so will benefit the world. Investing in such companies is a noble thing. Those companies need the financing to get started and expand to do their jobs. Investor’s can be a part of the solution, and profit from it too. Kyoto is lame, its objectives aren’t. Whether or not global warming is caused by pollution shouldn’t even matter. Pollution is unhealthy for nature and for humans. That should be enough reason alone. The great thing about reducing emissions is that it will also save money and energy - it makes economic sense!

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