Money Hole

Have you ever wondered where the 275 billion taxpayer money went that was poured down the European Union carbon trading system hole? That is the headline at https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2018/06/28/ever-wonder-where-the-275-bil… … billions of public money was lost on the ETS trading system – money that could have been invested in modernising the European power generation fleet (which could have, in turn, cut co2 use by 40%). Instead, the money disappeared and EU emissions have continued to rise. It seems the money was used to subsidise Chinese steel production – even thought UK steel production, for example, has shrunk to not much more than a recycling system (any old iron). The EU actually pays China in order to bribe it to combat climate change (which they do not believe in) – using carbon credits and carbon offsets. Meanwhile, steel workers are unemployed in the UK and we have TV programmes on the plight of them in former steel towns such as Redcar. Chinese steel is flourishing (and they are still burning enormous quantities of coal). What is it with politicos. Do they leave their brains behind them when they enter parliament. Can it all really be down to faceless bureaucrats. Obviously, there has been a huge lobbying industry in Brussels – and no doubt brown envelopes have been passed around. Some 1.5 billion euros were paid to 90 steel plants in China in order to modernise them to consume less energy and make the plants more efficient. Chinese trade hit a damp patch and world prices fell dramatically which meant output from these modernised mills flooded the European market and threatened thousands of jobs. The system even paid Tata to close down plants in the UK – and all the politicos did was wring their hands. Chinese upgrades have reached record levels of production and the result is a disaster. Now the US are seeking to reduce European imports of steel in order to protect their own steel industry, also under threat from Chinese production. How long will there be a steel industry in Europe?