energy - cost of eu requirements
WORKERS, MAY 2004 ISSUE
New environmental requirements by the European Union to reduce carbon emissions or pay others who can do so through 'carbon trading' will put up the cost of manufacturing. This will particularly affect costs for high energy users such as steel, cement, brick and many other materials manufacturers.
This requirement however will only be placed on countries in the EU. At the same time no provision has been made to impose tariffs on materials manufactured in countries with no 'carbon trading' costs. It is widely thought that this will result in an increase in imports from those countries. The predictable result will be loss of manufacture with no environmental gain.