As you may know, the EU supposedly leads the world in carbon cutting measures.
Lately though, they've had a series of set-backs: Increasing the levels of biofuels in our petrol tanks have actually increased carbon emissions (See here); They tried to make carbon cuts more ambitious but the plans were scuppered by Poland; and the carbon trading scheme (ETS) has lost it's teeth because it now costs just 5 Euros per tonne of carbon.
The EU wanted to put the last issue right by bringing in measures that would push up the cost of carbon to a more realistic level, thereby forcng polluters to cut their emissions. Unfortunately they had to put it to a vote in the European Parliament. The changes were narrowly defeated, effectively rendering the ETS not fit for purpose. See here for more.
Had the UK Conservative MEPs followed their own government's support for carbon trading, the measures would have been passed, instead they let their own hatred of the EU colour their judgement. Shame on them and everyone who voted with them.
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