French Carbon Tax Rejected by Constitutional Court

A carbon tax that would have taken effect Jan. 1, 2010, in France has been struck down by the French Constitutional Court. Had it come into law, the tax would have made France the largest economy in the world subject to a carbon levy.

A multitude of exemptions that were written into the law created a "breach of the principle of tax equality," the court ruled.

Among the sectors that were exempted by the law were cement plants, power producers, and oil and gas refineries, The Wall Street Journal reported ("French Court Rejects Carbon-Emissions Tax, Dealing Blow to Sarkozy," Dec. 31, 2009). The law would have provided for a $25 per ton levy on carbon emissions. Interesting enough, the tax was challenged by the left of center Socialist Party. President Nicholas Sarkozy's right of center party proposed and passed the legislation.

Despite the decision, Mr. Sarkozy's party is expected to write a revised version of the legislation in January. Prime Minister Francois Fillon said a carbon tax continues to be a "priority for the president of the republic and the government," the Financial Times reported ("Sarkozy Fights to Save Flagship Carbon Tax," Dec. 31, 2009).

In fighting his election campaign in 2007, Mr. Sarkozy pledged that reducing carbon emissions would be a top priority of his government.

Sweeping Environmental Law Reforms Approved in France

Last week, the French parliament approved a major overhaul of the country's environmental standards. As reported in The Globe and Mail ("France Passes Sweeping Ecology Law," July 23), "The law stemmed from months of negotiations among environmental activists, farmers, industry officials and bureaucrats in 2007 to work out what President Nicholas Sarkozy called an environmental 'new deal' for France."

Les Verts, the French Green Party, opposed the measure arguing that it do not go far enough.

(Muchas gracias a Sergio Stone, Foreign, International and Comparative Law Librarian at the Stanford Law School for calling this to my attention.)

How "Green" is Stimulus Funding?

A new report by HSBC, a global banking leader, indicates that China and the United States have allocated the greatest amounts of their respective economic stimulus packages for green projects.

According to a story in The Economist ("Greenstanding," April 4, 2009), China will spend just over $200 billion on green projects while the U.S. will spend over $90 billion.  Other large spenders, according to the HSBC report, are South Korea at $30.7 billion, Germany at $13.8 billion, and Japan at $12.4 billion.

Despite constant chatter from the British and French governments about their commitment to green projects, spending from Paris will only amount to $7.1 billion while London will spend a paltry $2.1 billion.  

Has anyone checked these numbers with French President Nicholas Zarkozy or U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown?  Mssrs. Zarkozy and Brown like to bang on and on about the need to address climate change, but apparently their governments' piggybanks are empty when it comes to green stimulus spending.