CBIcalling for global carbon trading plan
BUSINESS body the CBI is set to call for a global carbon trading scheme today, as the UN’s climate change talks kick off in Copenhagen.
The group will argue the case for a scheme to cap emissions, and to allow firms worldwide to buy permits for carbon – like the EU Emissions Trading Scheme – and say this should form the basis for a global carbon market.
The move will help cut global carbon emissions and tackle climate change, the CBI will argue.
The trading emissions scheme allows companies to emit CO2 up to a specified “cap,” and beyond this limit they must buy extra permits.
“UK firms have a strong interest in a successful outcome at Copenhagen. After all, it will be business that delivers the new infrastructure and develops the products and services needed for the shift to a low-carbon economy,” said the CBI’s deputy director-general John Cridland.
He added that there should be a “broad-agreement” on how the wealthier nations share the bill for helping the developing world make the transition towards a low-carbon economy.
Cridland said there were potentially “huge opportunities for the UK” from Copenhagen, with offshore wind, low-carbon vehicles, carbon finance and clean coal sectors all set to benefit from a new carbon deal.
“But there needs to be a level playing field, or UK companies could find themselves at a serious disadvantage as manufacturers of commodities such as steel or cement shift production to countries where emissions targets aren’t as tough,” Cridland warned.
His comments came as the CBI puts out a report on the emissions trading scheme and recommended its terms be expanded to include aviation and shipping, ideally through a global scheme for those sectors.
Delegates from 192 countries will descend on Copenhagen today to thrash out details on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. They want to reach new global deal on climate change, and extend the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.