Arnie to save the planet- for real this time!
I always thought that 8 Hummer, cigar chomping Arnie would have little in common with environmentalism. How wrong could I be?
Not only did Arnie sign the “historic” agreement with Tony yesterday, which may lead to California joining the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, but he’s also pledged to reduce emissions in California by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 which in comparison leaves the UK lying in the dust.
A sceptical writer would say that at the end of the day, they’re only targets and mean very little- how many targets has New Labour missed during its time in Power?!
A cyncial mind would point to the critiscism Arnie’s received for his contradictory record on the environment. Or how Arnie is embracing the environment because it plays well with voters, who coincidentally will be voting in November. Such a writer might even suggest that by concentrating on environmentalism, he is turning his back on an unpopular President who cares very little for the environment.
Not this blogger. I think Arnie is clearly the man to save the world. According to this, Arnie got his hands on a green hummer…what more proof do you need?!
More seriously however:
It was no surprise that representatives of some of the companies who have / are likely to gain out of joining the EU ETS scheme, were present at the meeting yesterday. Lord Browne from BP was there - they’ve made profits in the first year of the scheme according to this. Richard Branson from Virgin flew over too- they would gain under the expansion of flights into the scheme. Of course they endorse this scheme.
The biggest question is, will Arnie really be willing to let the EU decide which Californian companies / public institutions can pollute and by how much (the EU Commission currently signs off each member state’s National Allocation Plan). I doubt it! If I was sceptic I would say that the Blair-Schwarzenegger agreement was nothing but electioneering!
September 21st, 2006 at 5:06 pm
[...] Its also interesting that Branson has alot to gain from this move against car manufacturers. Branson owns Virgin fuels, that turns corn into biofuels - an alternative to petrol for cars, and has just invested in a Californian based company Cilion. Clearly a success for this law suit (although highly unlikely) would be a boost for his company, as car manufacturers look for alternatives to oil. To top it all off, Branson happens to be a friend of cigar chomping Arnie, the Governor of California. [...]