Posted on 11/26/2004 10:25:30 AM PST by cogitator
Finland exceeded CO2 Kyoto target by 20 percent last year
Finland emitted 20 percent more carbon dioxide last year than in 1990, making it difficult for the Nordic country to meet its discharge targets as set forth by the Kyoto Protocol, officials said Thursday.
Finnish carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions totaled 88.5 million tonnes last year, according to provisional figures from Statistics Finland.
All industrial nations ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to take effect in February next year, have bound themselves to meet specific targets for reducing or curbing emissions of six so-called greenhouse gases by the 2008-2012 period, which in Finland's case is the 1990 level.
These gases, caused by rotting organic material and burning fossil fuels, are blamed for causing climate change as they stay in the atmosphere, trapping heat from the sun and thereby increasing Earth's surface temperature.
It may be difficult for Finland to meet its Kyoto promises, and the Nordic country could be forced to buy emissions rights from other nations, something which is allowed under the treaty, Outi Berghaell, an official at the environment ministry, told Finnish news agency FNB.
Finland could also help other countries, such as developing nations, to cut their discharges in order to make up for its own shortfall, she added.
Finnish CO2 emissions stayed close to the 1990 level of some 73.5 million tonnes until 2000, when the Nordic country's technology boom sent them soaring due to increased use of fossil fuels, Statistics Finland said.
Methane emissions, also regulated by the UN-sponsored treaty, have at the same time dropped by a fifth in Finland however, due to lower livestock figurers and better waste management, the semi-public agency said.
There's only one solution. The Finns have to stop breathing!
Seems like a workable system, 'Just don't breathe'....I can live with that for the Finns. I hope they agree to it, otherwise they aren't serious about cleaning up the air.
When you look at all of the numbers they cooked up for the Kyoto treaty...it came from stats in the early 90s. Everyone was pointing fingers and hoping to make the US into the badboy on the entire episode. But as each year goes by...it starts to become apparent that no one can truely meet the standards they set out to meet. Finland has little if any industry...so you really have to ask yourself what they are measuring in the first place and if someone might be tampering withthe numbers to put more pressure on the government to enforce extreme standards upon society there. Of course, those nasty Swedes might be causing all of the problems...and letting bad air drift over. Hmmmmmm......
they can do what Nokia did, come to Texas, we'll build your high tech products and save you the trouble of working. Then you can play nice with Kyoto.
Oh, they can breathe, all right, as long as they don't exhale! LOL
They've been heating their saunas too much. To save the environment the Finns should just go sit in a snow bank instead.
Methane Commeth From Pigsh*t
11 posted on 11/26/2004 11:54:18 AM PST by Libertarianize the GOP (Make all taxes truly voluntary)
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I suspect that the Kyoto limits on CO2 will be about as enforceable as the EU's rigid debt limits on member nations. France and Germany have been in violation every year, and nothing happens.
The same will befall Kyoto, the first time a member nation faces the choice of domestic recession or excess carbon dioxide, with or without "pollution credits."
These stupid pacts are simply bureaucratic rituals, "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
We were right as rain to stay out, and Russia will soon rue the day they bit on this frogbait. They are counting on selling lots of unused credits, for big money, but wait until their fragile economy surpasses the 1990 level of industrialization. They'll be gone, guaranteed.
Big deal...
My family is doing more than that after a lunch at Taco Bell.
What would happen if they just said that we aren't paying?
Well, I don't know exactly what the enforcement clauses are. I just have utmost confidence that, whatever they are, they will be ignored.
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