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.