Perhaps following the advice of Joe Stiglitz, French President Jacques Chirac is talking about some sort of sanction on countries who are not taking sufficient action to protect the environment:
President Jacques Chirac has demanded that the United States sign both the Kyoto climate protocol and a future agreement that will take effect when the Kyoto accord runs out in 2012.
He said that he welcomed last week’s State of the Union address in which President Bush described climate change as a “serious challenge” and acknowledged that a growing number of American politicians now favor emissions cuts.
But he warned that if the United States did not sign the agreements, a carbon tax across Europe on imports from nations that have not signed the Kyoto treaty could be imposed to try to force compliance. The European Union is the largest export market for American goods.
“A carbon tax is inevitable,” Mr. Chirac said. “If it is European, and I believe it will be European, then it will all the same have a certain influence because it means that all the countries that do not accept the minimum obligations will be obliged to pay.”
Trade lawyers have been divided over the legality of a carbon tax, with some saying it would run counter to international trade rules. But Mr. Chirac said other European countries would back it. “I believe we will have all of the European Union,” he said.
With regard to the legality, I can see how, in theory, someone could come up with a WTO-consistent measure that would penalize companies who cause a great deal of pollution. But I think that the measure mentioned here -- "a carbon tax across Europe on imports from nations that have not signed the Kyoto treaty" -- might be difficult to justify, although no final judgement can be made until after seeing the actual wording of the measure.
