On 2007-04-04 07:41:04 +0100, David Hansen
said:

On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:09:57 GMT someone who may be John Stumbles
wrote this:-

I can guess that something made in China has a bigger carbon footprint
than the same thing made in the UK because of transposrt

The manufacturers of the ship full of toys which arrived from China
before Christmas claimed that the carbon emissions of ships are
surprisingly low. Similar claims are made by exporters of New
Zealand lamb.

So now ask yourself why.

Hmm.... Probably because they want to be able to sell their goods
uneventfully in the West.

What enables them to do that?

A ready market of people wanting low prices for products and not having
carbon footprint as a major purchasing criterion.

Has anybody had a discussion with the purchasing public about this?

Has anyone had a word with the Chinese and Indians about their energy
production methods?

So what could be done? Two ideas.


- The West tells the Far East that they need to dramatically change
their use of fossil fuels for energy production and to install
alternative capacity - if need be with the threat of trade tariffs.

- Implement massive import duties on products manufactured in countries
with a predominantly fossil fuel energy policy and ongoing plan.

The latter would have the effect of a substantial price rise on goods
from these places. It would re-open opportunity for manufacture
closer to the market - e.g. former Warsaw pact and even Western Europe.
That has some political appeal on the jobs front.
The question is would the public be willing to pay or would there be a
political backlash?
Are people willing to put the carbon footprint of their purchases ahead
of their pocketbooks?


I'm not suggesting that either of these are achievable; and this is
leaving aside whether or not doing something to reduce carbon emission
will actually achieve anything.

History shows that trade protectionism doesn't work in the long run and
that the market ultimately decides. Their may even be the odd touch of
fisticuffs along the way.

Nonetheless, I wonder if any western governments have the balls to do it.....