2.17.2005
Mixed Feelings as Treaty on Greenhouse Gases Takes Effect (NYTimes.com)
By MARK LANDLER
Published: February 16, 2005
LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany - From the day that Jürgen F. Strube joined BASF in 1969, his company has been cleaning up its act. At that time, it was making plans for a wastewater treatment plant at its chemical production complex here, which stretches for nearly five miles along the Rhine.
The plant helped purify the river, which sparkles these days as it flows past a tidy forest of pipes and smokestacks. Downstream from the factory is a vineyard that produces a crisp Riesling wine - which BASF, the world's largest chemical maker, buys in bulk to stock its million-bottle wine cellars.
That is why Mr. Strube, chairman of BASF's supervisory board, responds with a hint of impatience when asked how European industry plans to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, requiring Germany and 34 other nations to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
As the agreement takes effect on Feb. 16, worries about its fairness are mixed with mild resentment. Europeans have set some of the most stringent targets for reducing greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the earth's atmosphere and have been linked by climate experts to global warming.
(More ... The New York Times > Business > World Business > Mixed Feelings as Treaty on Greenhouse Gases Takes Effect) ¶ 07:57
Published: February 16, 2005
LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany - From the day that Jürgen F. Strube joined BASF in 1969, his company has been cleaning up its act. At that time, it was making plans for a wastewater treatment plant at its chemical production complex here, which stretches for nearly five miles along the Rhine.
The plant helped purify the river, which sparkles these days as it flows past a tidy forest of pipes and smokestacks. Downstream from the factory is a vineyard that produces a crisp Riesling wine - which BASF, the world's largest chemical maker, buys in bulk to stock its million-bottle wine cellars.
That is why Mr. Strube, chairman of BASF's supervisory board, responds with a hint of impatience when asked how European industry plans to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, requiring Germany and 34 other nations to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
As the agreement takes effect on Feb. 16, worries about its fairness are mixed with mild resentment. Europeans have set some of the most stringent targets for reducing greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the earth's atmosphere and have been linked by climate experts to global warming.
(More ... The New York Times > Business > World Business > Mixed Feelings as Treaty on Greenhouse Gases Takes Effect) ¶ 07:57
