French President Emmanuel Macron argued that green taxes were needed to curb climate change by weaning motorists off petroleum products.
However, his latest increase in carbon taxes to reduce CO2 emissions proved a directive too far. It led to riots by gilets jaunes or ‘yellow vests’.
Their protests forced Macron to back down. He suspended fuel increases for six months. After more riots, he canceled any increase and froze electricity and gas prices.
He also was forced to promise wage rises, tax cuts and to abolish taxes on overtime pay in an attempt to quell the four weeks of violent protests that have shaken France.
Delegates at UN climate talks in Katowice, Poland, were shocked that Macron, leader of one of Europe’s most climate-ambitious countries, had capitulated so easily.
The truth is that France’s protesters are only part of a global backlash against climate-change taxes. Politicians worldwide are running into fierce opposition underlining the unpopularity of the mega-expensive decarbonization effort.
Despite all their efforts, the International Energy Agency forecasts that CO2 emissions will rise in 2018 for the first time in five years.
Gunnar Luderer, one of the authors of a new UN ‘emissions gap’ report and senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, is typically anxious (and alarmist): ‘There is still a tremendous gap . . . between the targets agreed by governments and the measures to achieve these goals’.
He insists that ’emissions must be reduced by a quarter by 2030 [to keep warming to no more than 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels]’ and for 1.5C emissions to be halved’.
So it seems that the more governments try to control climate change, the wider the gap becomes between aspiration and reality; and that 24 years of climate meetings have been little more than a waste of time and money.
No wonder levels of climate anxiety are rising so fast. To these, of course, there is a simple answer: a strong dose of climate realism. The prescription course can be started here.
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The warming effect of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is exactly the heat of combustion when we use them. After that, our 5% contribution is no different than nature’s 95% contribution. Carbon dioxide does not stop Earth’s heat from radiating into space.
The IPCC deliberately exaggerates , extrapolates far into the future and demands impossible to achieve sacrifice, NOW! Knowing that we’ll fail to obey, the wages of our “sins” is taxes. It’s a money scam.
No More Taxes just imagine paying extra for a problem that only appears on a comupter graf and in the minds of the Green Nuts like Greenpeace,EDF,NRDC,Friends of the Earth,Al Bore,Barack Obama,Leonardo DiCaprio,John Travolta(who owns a 707)Sting,Laurie David,Moonbeam Brown Etc
Carbon tax is a regressive tax, disproportionately affecting the lower middle class and poor. Even though these folks usually don’t pay that much tax.
I wonder how much CO2 was emitted by Paris burning? Who pays the carbon tax for that?