Campaign Against Carbon Trading

In February 2002, two carbon trading conferences in Amsterdam and London were disrupted by activists. In February 2002, two carbon trading conferences in Amsterdam and London were disrupted by activists.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST CARBON TRADING

In its Political Statement, Rising Tide says that it opposes emissions trading, carbon sinks, Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation and other false solutions being used as a way to escape responsibility for reductions.

The main argument against carbon trading is that it requires the privatisation of the atmosphere. Property rights in this vast new speculative market will then be aallocated by those who trade fastest and those who already pollute the most.

But there are many more concerns and criticisms:

• The specific mechanisms involved in Carbon Trading are deeply flawed.
  The Clean Development Mechanism represents the worst kind of top-down repressive development. Tree planting does not work and threatens forest dependent people in the tropics. Selling "hot air" credits from the former Soviet Union are an accounting fraud.
• Carbon Trading will not work. The proposals are based on models of small scale emissions trading that cannot be replicated. A global carbon market cannot be monitored or controlled, and the legal framework is unlikely to ever be strong enough to counter the huge incentives for cheating.
• Carbon Trading is a false solution. It has undermined the tiny reductions proposed in the Kyoto Protocol. It does nothing to reduce the supply of fossil fuels, it is an inherently elitist, corporatist, technocratic solution.

PROTESTS
19th February 2002. Activists Close Amsterdam carbon Trading Conference for Two Hours
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5th March 2002. A group called "Pie in the Sky" made an "unscheduled presentation" at a London carbon trading conference
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RESOURCES

The Case Against Carbon Trading.
A three page Rising Tide briefing summarising the main criticisms and areas of concern.
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Corner House Briefing: Democracy or Carbocracy
This very well written 50 page report by Larry Lohmann is a key text for anyone wanting to understand carbon trading and the bogus science of sequestration.
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Greenhouse Market Mania.
This 30 page report is an excellent summary of the case against carbon trading and the role of corporations in turning the Kyoto Protocol into a carbon trading agreement.
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The problems with sinks.
Workshop given by Jutta Kill of FERN at the October 2001 Risingtide Gathering.
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