I deliberately try to keep my writings free from Politics, obviously Economics, Politics and the markets have intrinsic ties, but I like to think that because we live in the lucky country, we tend to prosper whichever party holds power, often, seemingly in-spite of the behaviour of our ‘leaders’. Other countries seem to face similar prospects…
I say in-spite of, because interestingly, the greatest contributor to the worldwide reduction in carbon emissions over the last 5 years was the Bush/Cheney administration! This will really grate/rankle/anger the climate change movement I’m sure, but remember I said ‘in-spite’. Often with political actions, the ‘Law of unintended consequences’ intervenes, it seems that is what has happened with respect to the revolution caused by ‘unconventional energy’, which has been particularly prevalent in the U.S.
The article I draw this conclusion from is here in The Economist and the most remarkable statement in it is this:
Gas has wrought some remarkable changes. Over the past five years America has recorded a decline in greenhouse-gas emissions of 450m tonnes, the biggest anywhere in the world. Ironically, given its far greater effort to tackle climate change, the European Union has seen its emissions rise, partly because its higher gas prices (linked to oil) have led to an increase in coal-fired power generation.To put that in perspective, the Australian Government on July 1st introduced a Carbon Tax and related emissions target, which is hoping to reduce our emissions by a cumulative total of 140m tonnes by 2050, we are ‘hoping’ to achieve 31% of what the U.S. achieved in the last 5 years by doing nothing, over the next 38 years by introducing what it appears will be a tax with unquestionably substantial negative externalities on the Australian economy.
I said this pleasant ‘Unintended Consequence’ was attributable to the Bush/Cheney administration; I guess that warrants explanation, I think Scott Sumner summed it up best:
America is reducing greenhouse gas emissions faster than anywhere else because Bush/Cheney ignored environmentalists and went with the “drill baby drill” strategy.Sumner goes on to talk about the expanding nuclear industry in China in one of his postscripts to the same blog post:
PPPS. Think about Mercedes, BMW and Audi. Then think about the quality of the stuff you buy that’s made in China. Do you sleep better at night knowing that Germany is shutting down its entire nuclear industry, and China is building nuclear plants at a rapid pace.We really have to hope the ‘Law of unintended consequences’ does not come back to bite us with China’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions through its nascent nuclear industry… It has been said “The Road to hell is paved with good intentions!” – Tony Hansen 03/08/12
|
|
April 1st 2011 |
Jul 1st 2012 |
Current Price |
Current Period |
Since Inception |
|
EGP Fund No. 1 |
1.00000 |
1.02993* |
1.08655 |
5.5% |
8.66% |
|
35632.05 |
31904.52 |
32899.18 |
3.12% |
(7.67%) |
*Unaudited figure to be confirmed externally
EGP Fund No. 1 Pty Ltd. Up by 5.5%, leading the benchmark by 2.38% since July 1st. Since inception, EGP Fund No. 1 Pty Ltd is Up by 8.66%, leading the benchmark by 16.33% all-time (April 1st 2011).
