Green Governance, or just Hot Air?

José Sócrates proudly proclaimed to the press last week that Portugal will surpass its objectives under the Kyoto agreement - reducing carbon emissions more than planned. So the Government can be praised for having a green country and taking initiatives such as obliging builders to incorporate energy-saving measures into all new buildings.

What he doesn't publicise is the tax administration's response to that change in the building code: the existence of these energy-saving measures has been added as another coefficient that increases the tax valuation of your house, used to define how much is paid annually in municipal property tax and sewage charges! Surely they should use the opposite approach and reduce the value of houses without such features. Add to this ridiculous measure the pitiful tax incentives given for individuals to install such measures and we can only conclude that the Government is only paying lip service to green measures.

As for beating the Kyoto objectives, we have to presume that they were under-ambitious if the Government can get away with this.