http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/world/europe/01climate.html?ei=5090&en=718095d16a7c2e7f&ex=1327986000

Harry, do you have more detail or a link on that European challenge to the US? I thought I heard something about it on radio, but on second thoughts it was this one about Canada.

You’d have to make sure that the WTO had it’s head on straight, though, because some of their rulings don’t seem to have much to do with the public interest.

In most of Africa and large parts of Asia, I doubt much of the money would ever reach the slums or the outlying villages.

Moreover, it is not ‘pie in the sky’ stuff since it is already happening with European moves to tackle unpaid for US emissions.

How in the hell would you ensure fraud was kept at acceptable levels?

Carbon tariffs are worth thinking about. It’s just an extension of polluter pays to the international level.

Monbiot has a different notion which he doesn’t seriously pursue, because his focus is on what to do about Britain.

He suggests that everyone on the planet could have a personal carbon credit based on their equal shares and with limits determined by what the planet can absorb. This could lead to significant wealth transfers as poor peasants sold their credits to rich consumers over the internet.

The short version is that while the document lays out just how much damage global warming will do to China, and there’s a whole pile of low-hanging fruit they’re going to tackle, there’s absolutely no commitment to set emissions targets. But they’re considerably advanced on India, who haven’t really admitted it’s a problem yet (I wonder how they’ll feel if a couple of hundred million Bangladeshi Muslims need resettlement in a few decades’ time…).

Carbon tariffs is something we’ll be hearing more about pretty soon, methinks.