Friends of the Earth say carbon trading is sub-prime

Very pleased with Friends of the Earth's statement today challenging carbon trading, we could do with a bit more of this from the Green Party and from other environmental organisations.

Its been a long campaign for me and other ecosocialists and I have just been writing a book chapter on what I describe as the 'real climate swindle' i.e. dodgy carbon trading.

I think although Elinor Ostrom's paper released earlier in the week is not an explicit criticism of carbon trading Elinor wonderful conservative radical and respectable anarchist that she is, asks a simple question 'Have we tested climate policy to see if it works?' It doesn't work for climate change.

I think this work from FoE is a also real break through, I am a bit of an ngo sceptic sometimes, which is a product of working with indigenous activists who win in the Amazon! Environmentalists in the rest of world sometime forget people live in the Amazon and are fighting for and winning and getting shot for their troubles...

Any how I think this excellent research from FoE pushes in the direction of urgently introducing policies from indigenous protection to carbon sinks to an effective green new deal that will work.

This is what Rosemary at FoE sent me, ta Rosemary!

Carbon trading 'the next sub-prime' - new research

5 November 2009

Plans to expand carbon markets at UN climate talks this December could trigger a second ‘sub-prime' style financial collapse and fail to protect the world from global warming catastrophe, a new report from Friends of the Earth warns today (Thursday 5 November 2009).




‘A Dangerous Obsession' focuses on the buying and selling of a new artificial commodity - the right to emit carbon dioxide - which the UK and other developed country governments want to see expanded into a massive worldwide market and are pushing in the negotiations running up to the big Copenhagen climate talks in December.

The trade in carbon permits and credits, mainly based in Europe, was worth $126 billion in 2008 and is predicted to balloon to $3.1 trillion by 2020 if a global carbon market takes off.

But the majority of the trade is carried out not between polluting industries and factories covered by carbon trading schemes, but by banks and investors who profit from speculation on the carbon markets - packaging carbon credits into increasingly complex financial products similar to the ‘shadow finance' around sub-prime mortgages which triggered the recent economic crash.

This risks the development of sub-prime carbon and the possibility of an eventual collapse in confidence in the market, with catastrophic consequences for the global economy and also for our prospects of avoiding runaway climate change.

Friends of the Earth's report warns that the Government's obsession with carbon trading as a solution to climate change is high risk, irresponsible and dangerous.

Existing carbon trading schemes are not delivering the emissions cuts promised, and relying on this mechanism to reduce emissions globally is gambling with the health of the planet and the future of billions of people.

Carbon trading is also being used as a smokescreen by rich countries to avoid their legal and moral commitment to provide money and technology to developing countries to grow cleanly and adapt to climate change. The green campaign group is calling on the Government to use simple, direct and proven policy tools like regulation, a carbon tax, and major public investment in greening the economy to reduce our emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020, without offsetting.

Friends of the Earth's international climate campaigner and author of the report Sarah Jayne-Clifton said:

"Pushing a world carbon market as part of a global agreement to tackle climate change risks a double whammy of financial and environmental disaster.

"Carbon trading is failing dismally at reducing emissions, yet allows speculators to grow rich from the climate crisis and hands politicians and industry a get-out clause for polluting business as usual.

"Science tells us rich countries must act first and fast to cut their emissions at home if we are to avert climate catastrophe - and support poorer countries with adequate public money to grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change which they are already feeling.

"The credit crunch has taught us that Governments, not markets are best placed to safeguard our future - at this critical point in the fight against climate change Ministers must step in and lead the way with a new, direct approach to tackling carbon emissions to create a safe and green future for us all."

Friends of the Earth is demanding that the Government changes its approach to climate change with its Demand Climate Change campaign. The green campaign group is asking everyone to sign its international petition to world leaders for a strong and fair climate deal at http://www.demandclimatechange.org/ .

The full report is here