The Failures of American And European Climate Policy: International Norms, Domestic Politics, And Unachievable Commitments (Suny Series in Global Environmental Policy)
The Failures of American And European Climate Policy: International Norms, Domestic Politics, And Unachievable Commitments (Suny Series in Global Environmental Policy) – Review
This is not a glad book. Cass sharply criticises the US and Europe for supposedly wrong headed environmental policies. The book becomes into great detail buttressing this contention. Taking the reader from international treaty to treaty. From Rio to Kyoto. So we see how Germany was pressured to reduce coal emissions. The problem here was that the coal mined in Germany developed to produce higher amounts of CO2 and extra gases. Switching to various natures of coal was quite expensive, and would have usually rendered the iron industry uneconomic. But effectively subsidising the coal industry was ruled by the European Commission as an criminal type of state aid. But much of the book’s ire seems directed at the US. Ironically, at the Clinton administration. No doubt, the author would find greatly more disagreeable with the current Bush policies, given the theme of the book.