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This is an interesting little finding about industrial air pollution in the European Union. That pollution has costs, we all know, also we all know that those costs of pollution arent included in our GDP figures (its one of the complaints about that measure that trying to clean it up is counted, but the original damage isnt). However, the actual numbers we get here do throw some very interesting light on the question of what were supposed to be doing about it all.

The report is here and as they say:

Air pollution and greenhouse gases from industry cost Europe between 59 and 189 billion in 2012, the report shows. The upper estimate is approximately equivalent to the GDP of Finland or half the GDP of Poland. Over the period 2008 2012 the estimated cost was at least 329 billion and possibly up to 1 053 billion.

The thing that strikes me is actually how low that number is. EU GDP is some 15 trillion a year, so weve actually got there, at the top end of their estimates, only 1.25% of GDP as those industrial pollution related damages. And its very important to note that yes, that really does include CO2 emissions, all those greenhouse gases.

No ones going to be very surprised that the list is mainly coal fired power stations with the occasional steel mill and the like thrown in. These are the technologies that emit both CO2 and a lot of particularates after all.

However, as I say, the surprising thing is how low that number for the damages is: and Im quite happily using their top estimate of 189 billion when I say that too.

Im not saying that such damages are a good thing: but the next step is for us to consider what would be the cost of getting rid of them. For example, Germany alone has already spent 1 trillion and more on renewables: yet their coal fired power industry is still expanding as well (as they made the very odd decision to phase out nuclear). If one country alone has spent a trillion and not managed to reduce these damages then imagine what a whole continent would have to spend to get rid of this 189 billion a year?

The end result of thinking it though this way is to come to the conclusion that yes, we do of course face emissions problems. But it seems not to be heavy industry thats really the cause of them. Our own usage (transport, heating) and then other sectors like farming and so on all contribute and in total are larger than those iconic factories belching their smoke.

Another way to look at this is to point out that even closing down heavy industry isnt going to solve our emissions problems. We need rather more radical changes than that. Which makes it all the more difficult to either legislate or enact those changes of course, for we the citizenry are rather more resistive to having to change than this handful of factories.

My latest book is 23 Things We Are Telling You About Capitalism At Amazon or Amazon UK. A critical (highly critical) re-appraisal of Ha Joon Changs 23 Things They Dont Tell You About Capitalism.

Original post:
European Union Estimates That Industrial Air Pollution Costs As Much As 189 Billion A Year

The European Union could survive without Britain but not without France, outgoing EU President Herman Van Rompuy said.

Van Rompuy gave his views on the blocs future map and the threat of a U.K. exit in a farewell speech late yesterday in Paris. He said the rest of the EU would go only so far to keep Britain in.

Europe would be wounded, even amputated, without the U.K. -- and we have to do everything to prevent that -- but would survive, Van Rompuy said, according to a text released by his office. Without France, Europe -- the European idea -- would be dead.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to renegotiate Britains EU membership terms and hold a referendum on a possible exit from the bloc in 2017 if he is re-elected next May. Two of Camerons Conservative lawmakers have defected to the U.K. Independence Party, which seeks complete withdrawal from the EU, and have retained their House of Commons seats in special elections.

To be sure, Van Rompuy hailed Britains constructive approach to the EU budget, climate-change policy and unified bank regulation in the euro region, and gave it credit for taking the lead on European policy toward Iran and Syria.

Ive never had a reason to complain about the British, said Van Rompuy, whose term largely overlapped with Camerons.

Van Rompuy challenged the British governments argument that Cameron wielded a veto in 2011 against a deficit-limitation treaty meant to stabilize the euro. Van Rompuy called it an unfortunate veto attempt. The treaty went ahead without the U.K.

While other European leaders will seriously consider Camerons plea for the reduction of EU powers, the blocs fundamental principles are non-negotiable, Van Rompuy said.

Former U.K. Prime Minister John Major said in Berlin two weeks ago Britains chances of leaving the bloc are just under 50 percent.

Van Rompuy will be succeeded Dec. 1 by Donald Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland.

See more here:
Van Rompuy Takes Valedictory Swipe at U.K. While Praising France

The European continent is slipping into deflation. Unemployment is rising relentlessly. A debt crisis is ticking explosive underneath countries such as Italy and Spain. Talented young people are migrating in the search for work. Extremist parties of the right and left are rising in the polls as years of depression take their toll.

It is not exactly hard to list the economic challenges facing the European Union right now.

But not to worry, the European Union (EU) is about to fix everything. How? By breaking up Google GOOG, -0.49% .

The European Parliament is limbering up for a fight with the search giant, attacking its dominance of the internet. It argues that is unfairly stifling the growth of home-grown tech start-ups.

Schwab Center for Financial Research's Kathy Jones joins MoneyBeat and explains why the U.S. dollar will likely continue to rise in 2015 and how investors should respond. Photo: Getty.

Nonsense. There is no serious evidence to suggest that the power of Google is holding back the European economy and certainly not compared to the deadening weight of red tape and taxes that government imposes.

The EU should stop worrying about a few American web giants and start working to fix its own problems.

The European attack on Google has been gathering strength for some time. The EU has already been investigating the companys market position for years, probing whether it has become too powerful, whether it discriminates against rivals, and if so what can be done.

Now the European Parliament looks poised to take that a step further, with votes scheduled on whether a search engine should be allowed to engage in other commercial activities. If that was passed, then Google would in effect have to be broken up. If it was broken up in Europe, then not only would that damage the company in itself the EU, after all, despite its troubles, remains the biggest economic bloc in the world but it would also set a troubling precedent in the rest of the world. Google, at least as we know it, might well be finished.

The European attack has affected Googles shares, which closed Tuesday at around $540 a share, versus about $600 a share in August.

Read this article:
Matthew Lynn's London Eye: Google is nowhere near Europes biggest problem

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