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Published online 15 December 2008 | 456, 847 (2008) | doi:10.1038/456847a
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Europe agrees emissions deal
Heavy industry wins key concessions in last-minute negotiations.
European heads of state struck a deal on 12 December on how to go about reducing Europe's greenhouse-gas emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020.
But the plans got a lukewarm response from environmentalists and climate scientists because of the far-reaching concessions given to industry in the deal brokered by France's Nicolas Sarkozy, the outgoing European Union (EU) president.
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So lets get this straight. Carbon trading is supposed to introduce an economic factor into pollution by making it more expensive to emit CO2. A bunch of people complained because making it more expensive to emit CO2 makes it more expensive to emit CO2. So the trading rules are then watered down to allow the biggest CO2 producers to dodge the bills. Everyone agrees and the president of the European commission, José Manuel Barroso, calls it a successful credibility test. What has he been smoking?