(October 6, 2009) Officials in at least five European countries are investigating an international carbon credit scam considered to be worth more than $1.5 billion. According to a recent report for the Guardian, the scam was originally coordinated by gangs in Britain and Spain who bought and sold emissions allowances across borders in order to avoid paying Value Added Tax (VAT).
Earning money from air by harvesting carbon
(October 6, 2009) There are signs that nascent Redd projects are already leading to social conflict, possible fraud and worsening land disputes.
Who to blame? UN wants to make auditors of carbon credit projects liable for their work
(September 21, 2009) The UN’s new plan to help regulate the carbon market will make auditors liable for their work, writes Brady Yauch.
At what cost are carbon credits funding hydro projects in the developing world
(August 7, 2009) The Carbon Development Mechanism (CDM), a market-based tool developed by the UN to cut green house gas emissions, may be heralding a boon in hydro development projects in China and the developing world – and doing so at the cost of the environment and local landowners. As policy makers and environmentalists across the globe prepare for the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this winter, criticisms of carbon credit schemes like the CDM are begining to surface.
Carbon credit fraud in the UK
(August 6, 2009) A recent article in the Telegraph examines the rise in UK tax fraud in carbon emissions trading market. The scheme is a variation on the VAT carousel fraud, where criminals import products VAT-free from EU member states, then sell the goods in the UK with a VAT charge, only to quickly disappear without turning over the VAT charge to the UK’s customs and tax department, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs.
Carbon emissions trading system ‘seriously flawed’
(July 20, 2009) The system of trading carbon emissions at the heart of the ambitious low-carbon plan announced by the government last week is seriously flawed and close to becoming irrelevant, according to researchers behind a new analysis.
Killing mother nature with our green creed
(July 5, 2009) We in Britain are inclined to see the worst in massive state-driven projects, especially when these are promoted by governments that are undemocratic. We were right to be sceptical about the Soviet Union’s decision in the 1960s to divert rivers away from the Aral Sea, now largely a desert, and more recently about China’s Three Gorges Dam, which seems to be causing landslides, the displacement of millions of people and the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin.
MOZAMBIQUE: Biofuel companies line up for land and carbon credits
(March 6, 2009) Despite shrinking demand for biofuels globally, the government of Mozambique may soon grant millions of hectares of land to biofuel developers chasing UN-brokered carbon credits.
The Guardian: Indian environmentalists criticize UN carbon credit scheme
(February 8, 2009) Environmentalists criticize the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism as “ineffectual,” the Guardian reported on February 5.
How Kyoto credit scams work
(January 27, 2009) In another striking expose of carbon credit lunacy, AP reporters Joe McDonald and Charles Hanley report that a German coal-fired utility is buying “carbon credits” from a Chinese hydro dam, displacing thousands of poor farmers in the process, driving up electricity costs in Germany, and yet doing nothing for the environment.
There’s no place for Brazil’s ethanol and biofuels in a real green world
(January 16, 2009) An assorted alliance of organizations published an open letter [1] this Thursday, January 15, in the U.S. and internationally, warning of the dangers of industrially produced biofuels (called agrofuels by critics).
Backgrounder: A roundup up of Carbon Fraud reports
(January 8, 2009) A roundup up of stories, reports, and other coverage of fraud in carbon markets.
A Great Wall of carbon credits
(January 8, 2009) BADALING, CHINA – A bitter wind knifes down the Great Wall of China and through a stand of smoketrees, Chinese pine, maidenhair and Shantung maple.
Measuring the Clean Development Mechanism’s Performance and Potential
(August 1, 2008) The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is the first global attempt to address a global environmental public goods problem with a market-based mechanism.
Carbon Offsets: The U.S. Voluntary Market Is Growing, but Quality Assurance Poses Challenges for Market Participants
(August 1, 2008) GAO was asked to examine (1) the scope of the U.S. voluntary carbon offset market, including the role of the federal government; (2) the extent to which mechanisms for ensuring the credibility of offsets are available and used and what, if any, related information is shared with consumers; and (3) trade-offs associated with increased oversight of the U.S. market and including offsets in climate change mitigation policies. This report is based on analysis of literature and data, interviews with stakeholders, and GAO’s purchase of offsets.
Patricia Adams
Brady Yauch
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
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