Written by Marc Morano
Climate Reparations: Western nations 'have already exceeded their quotas'...'The West would give back part of the wealth it has taken from the South in the past centuries'
Excerpted From a September 4
Written by Marc Morano
Climate Reparations: Western nations 'have already exceeded their quotas'...'The West would give back part of the wealth it has taken from the South in the past centuries'
Excerpted From a September 4, 2009 article in The German Newspaper Der Spiegel. The interview was conducted by Christian SchwÃ¤gerl and the article was titled: 'Industrialized Nations Are Facing CO2 Insolvency'
Key Der Spiegel Excerpts: Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, the German government's climate protection adviser, argues that drastic measures must be taken in order to prevent a catastrophe.
He is proposing the creation of a CO2 budget for every person on the planet, regardless whether they live in Berlin or Beijing. [...]
Schellnhuber: Humankind has to limit itself to emit only fixed amount of carbon into the atmosphere until 2050. [...] Because the industrialized nations have already exceeded their quotas if you take into account past emissions. [...] With the current output you see that Germany, the US and other industrialized nations have either already used up their permissible quota, or will do so within the next few years. [...]
The industrialized nations are facing CO2 insolvency. This means that they have to notch up their efforts to reduce climate change, otherwise they will use up the CO2 budget actually designated to poorer countries and future generations.
Question: So industrialized nations would have to pay massive sums of money?
Schellnhuber: Yes. Up to â‚¬100 billion ($142 billion) annually. If the richest sixth of the world's population were to pay this amount, each person would have to pay â‚¬100 per year. The West would give back part of the wealth it has taken from the South in the past centuries and be indebted to countries that are now amongst the poorest in the world. It would, however, have to be ensured that the poorer nations use the money for the proposes it is intended -- namely to help them to develop a greener economy. [End article excerpt]
Climate Depot Editor's Note: Schellnhuber is not alone advocating these types of CO2 proposals. The movement to control personal CO2 "budget's" is growing internationally. Here are a few recent examples.
2) Flashback 2008: 'Personal carbon trading scheme': 'Every adult in UK should be forced to use 'carbon ration cards', say MPs - Excerpt: Everyone would be given an annual carbon allowance to use when buying oil, gas, electricity and flights -- Anyone who exceeds their entitlement would have to buy top-up credits from individuals who haven't used up their allowance. [...] The influential Environmental Audit Committee says a personal carbon trading scheme is the best and fairest way of cutting Britain's CO2 emissions without penalising the poor.
3) Flashback Jan. 2009: Princeton Physicist Dr. Will Happer invokes Orwell's 1984 novel: 'CO2 is not a pollutant...we should not corrupt English language by depriving 'pollutant' and 'poison' of their original meaning'