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In Brief
GLOBAL
STEEL INDUSTRY LOOKING AHEAD TO A POST-KYOTO WORLD
At its annual meeting in Berlin, the International Iron and Steel
Institute (IISI) Board of Directors announced a plan to collect
voluntary carbon emissions data in order to devise a plan to fight
climate change. IISI is entering the next stage in its "Global
Sectoral Approach" for steel, starting with collecting data
in order to assist with setting post-2012 carbon emissions commitments.
Steel is a heavily
traded commodity, and concerns have been raised regarding relocation
of industries away from countries with strict climate change policies
and accompanying "carbon leakage."
In Japan, North
America and Western Europe, the steel industry has reduced carbon
emissions by 49 percent in the last 25 years. The global steel industry
accounts for 3-4 percent of global carbon emissions. However, 90
percent of that comes from iron production, which is concentrated
in China, the EU-27, Japan, the US, Russia, India, Brazil, Ukraine
and Korea.
IISI stressed
the importance of involving the world's top steel producers for
the initiative to be useful. According to the institute, large steel
firms need to be able to maintain a competitive price; Industry
is concerned, because carbon emissions regulation can involve a
considerable cost burden. An IISI spokesperson estimated that carbon
emissions taxes could add as much as EUR 60-70 per tonne of steel
after 2012.
Negotiations
on the future of the climate change regime are set to take shape
at a key meeting in Bali, Indonesia in December this year.
To access IISI
fact sheets on climate change, visit http://www.worldsteel.org/index.php?action=storypages&id=226&subId=247
ICTSD reporting;
"World Steelmakers to Collect Global Climate Data," REUTERS,
10 October 2007; "Steel Industry to Report CO2 Emissions,"
ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER, 11 October 2007.
ENVIRONMENTAL
GROUPS SUBMIT AMICUS BRIEF IN BRAZIL-TYRES CASE
Environmental groups continue to call on the EU to withdraw its appeal
of a WTO ruling against Brazil's import restrictions on retreaded
tyres.
In the dispute,
the EU had argued that the import measures were motivated by a desire
to protect local tyre manufacturers from import competition, rather
than by the pursuit of genuine public health objectives as claimed
by Brasilia. The panel ultimately concluded that although the limitations
were in theory justifiable to safeguard health and environmental considerations,
Brazil applied them in a way that amounted to an unjustified and discriminatory
restriction of trade.
In its appeal,
the EU complained that the dispute panel "disregarded the actual
facts in Brazil and went against established WTO law," and that
as a result, the ruling was unacceptably easy for Brasilia to implement
(see Bridges Trade BioRes, 7 September 2007, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-09-07/story1.htm).
A number of environmental
groups* are condemning this move, and submitted an Amicus Brief to
the Appellate Body on the case. The appeal was discussed at a 15 October
hearing with both parties to the case.
"The EU must
back down in its attack on Brazil's environmental regulation. By putting
narrow commercial interests above environmental concerns now, the
EU will also compromise its own ability to protect life, health, and
the environment in the future - it is really shooting itself in the
foot," said Charly Poppe, Trade Campaigner at Friends of the
Earth Europe.
The Amicus Curie
brief is available at http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/Tyres_Appellate_11Oct2007.pdf
*Associação
de Combate aos Poluentes (ACPO) * Associação de Proteção
ao
Meio Ambiente de Cianorte (APROMAC) * Center for International Environmental
Law (CIEL) * Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (CEDHA) * Conectas
Direitos Humanos * Friends of the Earth Europe * The German NGO Forum
on Environment and Development * Justiça Global * Instituto
O Direito por Um Planeta Verde
ICTSD reporting.
EU
AGREES ONE-YEAR EXTENSION OF DUTIES ON ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHT BULBS
On
13 October, European foreign ministers rubber-stamped a one-year
extension of anti-dumping duties on energy efficient light bulbs
imported from China, as well as smaller producers such as Pakistan,
Vietnam and the Philippines.
Brussels has
imposed the duties of up to 66 percent since 2001, claiming that
"state intervention or other market distortions" meant
that the Chinese bulbs were being sold in the EU "at less than
their real value." Consumer and environmental groups had been
calling for the duties to go (see Bridges Trade BioRes, 7 September
2007, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-09-07/inbrief.htm).
The retention
of the duties for an additional year will give Osram GmbH, a unit
of Siemens AG, more time to prepare for competition. The company
could still ask for a lengthy review of the issue in 2008. other
companies, such as Philips and IKEA had asked for the duties to
be cut.
WWF estimates
that a rapid switch from traditional incandescent bulbs to more
efficient lamps could reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by 0.5
percent. The Commission acknowledges that domestic production can
account for only a quarter of the EU's demand for energy-efficient
light bulbs.
"EU Gives
Green Light to Disputed China Bulb Duties," REUTERS, 16 October
2006; "EU trade chief calls for aggressive action against China,"
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, 17 October 2007.
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