1/8/2024 0 Comments Triad ad wars cancelledThe Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)–a US$130 trillion investor club of over 450 financial firms in 45 countries–was launched at COP26 in Glasgow. A 2016 European Commission study of CDM offset projects found 85% provided no environmental benefits. Less than 5% of all offsets actually reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. Averaging only US$3 per tonne of CO2 in 2018 cannot accelerate desirable energy transitions. Often buying in bulk, they pay too little for carbon credits to incentivize switching to renewable energy. Energy-intensive companies collude and lobby against high carbon prices, insisting they damage competitiveness. By ramping up the supply of offsets, prices were kept low. The Economist sees carbon offsets as “ cheap cheats”. A CEO agreed its offset–buying into a Tanzania forestry programme–“ is cheating”. Morgan, Disney and BlackRock have all paid millions to protect forests not even under threat. Many carbon credits sold as offsets do not additionally remove carbon as claimed. But progress requires CO2 reduction, i.e., being net-negative, not just net-zero. Thus, offset markets enable the wealthy to avoid cutting GHG discharges at little cost.īut why pay for emission cuts which would have happened anyway, even without being paid for via offset sales? At best, net-zero is a zero-sum game maintaining atmospheric GHG levels. The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) also enables not cutting GHG production by paying others to do so. Cheap cheatsĬlearly, Article 6 does not stop emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GHGs. ![]() Thus, offset markets have slowed climate action in the rich North, responsible for two-thirds of cumulative emissions. Buying offsets lets them claim their emissions have been ‘cancelled’. Offsetting allows countries and companies to continue emitting GHGs instead of cutting them. Article 6 unifies carbon offset trading standards in order to minimize ‘double counting’. Achieving net-zero via offset trading has thus become the main climate action distraction.įollowing difficult, protracted negotiations after the 2015 Paris Agreement (PA), Article 6 was the last of its 29 Articles agreed to. Despite well-known setbacks, the COP26 Glasgow Climate Pact has been hailed as a breakthrough on the “ path to a safer future”.īefore COP26, many cities, regions, businesses, investors and higher education institutions joined the 120 countries already committed then. ![]() More than 130 countries pledged in Glasgow to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. On 28 January 2021, two High-Level Climate Action Champions, the COP25 and COP26 Presidents, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC) Executive Secretary launched the Davos’ World Economic Forum’s ‘ Race to Zero Breakthroughs’ initiative. Ostensibly promoting decarbonization, it actually allows carbon emissions to continue rising. ![]() But most climate scientists agree the target is dangerously misleading. By fostering the fiction that others can be paid to cut greenhouse gases (GHGs) instead, it undermines efforts to do so.Ĭommitting to achieve ‘net-zero’ carbon emissions has become a major climate change policy goal. SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR: Carbon offset markets allow the rich to emit as financial intermediaries profit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |