M. Barnier: The Quest for a Healthier Environment
3
1 .1 Climate Change
The systematic construction of climatology is recent and far from complete.
Instruments for analyzing and measuring the climate are being forged gradually.
Paleoclimatology, or the knowledge of past climates by the study of sediments and
glaciers developed during the 19th century. Later, in the 1950s, stricter techniques
and methodologies were perfected, in particular by great depth ice samples.
Today large computer models and the use of satellites aim at grasping climate
complexity. This latter results from the numerous parameters involving the entire
Earth and its atmosphere and also from the fact that climate is in a state of
perpetual change. The disturbing element in this gigantic mechanism is, of course,
the impact of an uncontrolled development of human action on forests, water
resources, soil quality. With regard to global warming, this is caused by the
spectacular increase of gas production giving rise to the hothouse effect.
Some experts estimate that the average earth temperature will rise from 3 to 7 °C
between now and the year 2100 which would have serious consequences (some of
them as yet unknown) on ecosystems. Much remains to be done concerning
knowledge and prediction.
France, for its part, is determined to fulfill the commitments made at the Rio
Conference, and it has ratified the two Conventions adopted there. The "Climate"
Convention was ratified unanimously by both houses of Parliament early this year,
and it constitutes substantial progress in planning for planetary cooperation,
particularly as a principle of solidarity between Northern and Southern countries.
France is a partner in, among others, the international Geosphere-Biosphere
program dealing with the evolution of problems on a planetary scale.
France is further committed to defending a similar approach in the European
debate. Her efforts, and those of the European Commission, have been useful. The
European Union decided, for example, that the commitment made by signing the
United Nations Framework Convention, i.e. the return by the year 2000 to the C02
emission levels of 1990, would be fulfilled by the whole of the Union.
It is my conviction that a common objective achieved by common tools constitutes
the best guarantee for a fair sharing of the economic burden caused by the
required adjustment.
On this issue, I am persuaded that a fiscal approach remains the best instrument
from the standpoint of global economic efficiency, given the extreme dispersion
of dioxide that concerns everyone of us in our daily lives.
I intend to try to convince my partners of the validity of these proposals that differ
a good deal from the Commission's present ecotax project concerning primarily
the competition among our heads of industry. I shall endeavor to promote this
project during the French Presidency of the European Union.
3
1 .1 Climate Change
The systematic construction of climatology is recent and far from complete.
Instruments for analyzing and measuring the climate are being forged gradually.
Paleoclimatology, or the knowledge of past climates by the study of sediments and
glaciers developed during the 19th century. Later, in the 1950s, stricter techniques
and methodologies were perfected, in particular by great depth ice samples.
Today large computer models and the use of satellites aim at grasping climate
complexity. This latter results from the numerous parameters involving the entire
Earth and its atmosphere and also from the fact that climate is in a state of
perpetual change. The disturbing element in this gigantic mechanism is, of course,
the impact of an uncontrolled development of human action on forests, water
resources, soil quality. With regard to global warming, this is caused by the
spectacular increase of gas production giving rise to the hothouse effect.
Some experts estimate that the average earth temperature will rise from 3 to 7 °C
between now and the year 2100 which would have serious consequences (some of
them as yet unknown) on ecosystems. Much remains to be done concerning
knowledge and prediction.
France, for its part, is determined to fulfill the commitments made at the Rio
Conference, and it has ratified the two Conventions adopted there. The "Climate"
Convention was ratified unanimously by both houses of Parliament early this year,
and it constitutes substantial progress in planning for planetary cooperation,
particularly as a principle of solidarity between Northern and Southern countries.
France is a partner in, among others, the international Geosphere-Biosphere
program dealing with the evolution of problems on a planetary scale.
France is further committed to defending a similar approach in the European
debate. Her efforts, and those of the European Commission, have been useful. The
European Union decided, for example, that the commitment made by signing the
United Nations Framework Convention, i.e. the return by the year 2000 to the C02
emission levels of 1990, would be fulfilled by the whole of the Union.
It is my conviction that a common objective achieved by common tools constitutes
the best guarantee for a fair sharing of the economic burden caused by the
required adjustment.
On this issue, I am persuaded that a fiscal approach remains the best instrument
from the standpoint of global economic efficiency, given the extreme dispersion
of dioxide that concerns everyone of us in our daily lives.
I intend to try to convince my partners of the validity of these proposals that differ
a good deal from the Commission's present ecotax project concerning primarily
the competition among our heads of industry. I shall endeavor to promote this
project during the French Presidency of the European Union.