Wanna Argument?
September 2000 Fuel Crisis
The global argument
Agreements to take action affecting more than just one country can be bi-lateral (between two countries) or multi-lateral (between several or many countries.) Issues that have implications across the globe will often produce global agreements.
The Kyoto Accord of 1997 was an attempt to tie countries to agreed cuts in CO2 emissions that cause global warming. The industrialised countries in particular have to take steps to reduce the environmental damage caused by the release of 'greenhouse' gases. A fall in our reliance on burning fossil fuels (oil and coal) should result in lower levels of greenhouse gases.
Cutting car use by encouraging people to use public transport or cycle or walk could be part of the energy policy of the UK. But for people to use public transport, it needs to be cheap, reliable and plentiful. Rather than cutting petrol tax, some environmentalists argue that the Government should channel revenues from these taxes into public transport. Others say that the oil companies themselves should pay part of the public transport bill. With firms like BP trying to re-brand themselves as energy providers for the 21st century ( Beyond Petroleum, not British Petroleum) some observers can see the environmentalists' point.