Fossil fuel subsidies cost governments in emerging markets more than $500 billion every year and are a major contributor to climate change, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The biggest subsidies are concentrated in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America, with OPEC members accounting for more than half the world’s subsidies. Subsidies account for 82 percent of the cost of electricity and fuel in Venezuela, 80 percent in Libya and 79 percent in Saudi Arabia, compared to 18 percent in India and 3 percent in China. According to the IEA, phasing out subsidies for oil, gas and electricity would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2 billion tons a year by 2020 – equivalent to the current combined emissions of Germany, France and the United Kingdom – and would dramatically improve government budgets. However, efforts to remove subsidies have met with limited success. Cheap electricity and fuel is often an important part of the social compact between governments of exporting nations and the population. “Many countries have successfully implemented reforms only to see subsidies reappear when international oil prices increase,” the IMF laments. (Jakarta Globe)
Trade unions launch global climate action campaign
Trade unions representing workers around the world have become the latest group to throw their weight behind calls for an ambitious international climate treaty to be agreed at next year’s UN-backed Paris Summit, with the launch of the new Unions4Climate campaign. More than 50 unions officially signed up to support the campaign at the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) conference in Berlin last week, pledging to support calls for an ambitious new climate treaty to limit temperature increases to 2°C and the delivery of an “industrial transformation” and “just transition” towards a green economy. Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the ITUC, said there was a compelling need for trade unions to play a central role in campaigning for ambitious action to tackle climate change. “Threats to jobs and livelihoods include the threat of climate change,” she said. “For unions it is simple. There are no jobs on a dead planet.” (Business Green)
Corporate Reputation
Capitalism needs to change and reduce its ‘financial footprint’, says IMF chief
Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde has said that banks have not changed since the financial crisis and warned that a lack of ethics threatens financial stability. Speaking at the Conference on Inclusive Capitalism in London, Lagarde said, “The behaviour of the financial sector has not changed fundamentally in a number of dimensions since the crisis. While some changes in behaviour are taking place, these are not deep or broad enough. The industry still prizes short-term profit over long-term prudence, today’s bonus over tomorrow’s relationship. Some prominent firms have even been mired in scandals that violate the most basic ethical norms – Libor and foreign exchange rigging, money laundering, illegal foreclosure.” She also said that capitalism has taken too many risks and led to massive destruction of value, social unrest and political disillusion, and added that this was a “wake-up call”. “By making capitalism more inclusive, we make capitalism more effective, and possibly more sustainable”, she said. (Blue and Green Tomorrow)
Innovation
California approves self-driving cars as Google unveils latest prototype
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has unveiled new regulations to take effect from September this year, stating the requirements for testing of autonomous, “self-driving” cars. Prototypes developed by Google, which it has been testing since 2009, have previously been operating in a grey area. The California DMV also added that is developing rules for the public’s use of self-driving cars, which could be ready by January next year. The news comes as Google has unveiled its latest prototype in an online video. Unlike previous versions, which were adapted from standard Toyota and Lexus automobiles, the new prototype has been developed from scratch by Google, and has no steering wheel or pedals – simply a “stop-go” button. Google aims to build up to 200 such cars in the near term, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who said that the cars could operate as a service, picking up passengers when summoned. He added that the cars had the ability to “improve people’s lives by transforming mobility”. (CNET; Reuters)
Environment
China to remove five million vehicles in latest anti-smog drive
China is set to remove more than five million ageing vehicles from its roads this year as part of efforts to combat the deadly air pollution enveloping many of its cities. Around 330,000 vehicles are to be removed from the roads of the capital Beijing, where the struggle with smog has caught the attention of international media. Public anger at the “airpocalypse” affecting cities across China has prompted the country’s leadership to pass a series of strict air pollution laws, as well as introduce policies for tackling water and soil contamination, which pose equally severe environmental challenges following several decades of rampant growth. In a new wide-ranging plan designed to cut emissions over the next two years, China’s State Council warned the country has fallen behind its pollution targets for 2011 to 2013 and must take immediate action. It said around 5.33 million “yellow label” vehicles that do not meet Chinese fuel standards will be “eliminated” this year as 660,000 vehicles will be withdrawn from the province of Hebei surrounding Beijing, which is home to seven of the cities worst affected by air pollution in 2013. (Business Green)
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