Article submitted by Teresa
The European Union delegation to the UN climate negotiations in Cancun is pushing for carbon markets to play an important role in generating climate finance for impoverished countries.
The EU delegation stated that it wants the World Bank to play a leading role in the Global Climate Fund that will have to allocate this money. Friends of the Earth International discusses the dangers of this stance and explains fairer and more effective sources of climate finance available in this report.
Carbon trading is unreliable, its benefits have not been proven, and it unfairly burdens impoverished countries with the responsibility of solving climate change. The obstacles to a carbon trading reform are insurmountable in practice in the context of the time we have available to avert catastrophic climate change. Moreover, the carbon offset market is not a legitimate source of climate finance, and cannot guarantee a predictable flow of finance for impoverished countries.
The report shows that at least 420 billion a year could generate a good number of alternatives to carbon trading, which allow impoverished countries to provide financing for their adaptation to climate change.
Friends of the Earth warns of the dangers of carbon trading and points out that there are more effective mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The document includes several proposals that show the most effective way to cut emissions:
— Energy: A global program of minimum tariffs or premiums, with an annual investment of US$100 billion over fifteen years, would reduce the cost of renewable technologies by making them universally accessible. This will allow renewable energy to become "the default option for the whole world". Stricter energy efficiency regulations combined with increased carbon and energy taxes will result in greater energy savings.
Agriculture: The generalization of small-scale and sustainable agriculture can trigger a drastic reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions through much less use of fossil fuels in agriculture and by storing carbon in plants and soils. It is also critically important to curb global demand for products associated with harmful intensive agriculture, including excessive consumption of meat and dairy products.
— Forests: solving the problem of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation requires measures that address the main driving forces behind deforestation, in particular the demand for agrofuels, meat and forest products. It is also essential to achieve improvements in forest governance, including effectively protecting the rights of indigenous peoples and forest-dwelling communities and expanding community forest governance. It is also essential to provide financing to encourage the progressive abandonment of development based on forest destruction.
— Industry: in order to prevent polluting companies from using the threat of relocation and relocation of their operations, or the so-called "carbon leakage" to avoid taking action, the starting point has to be an international agreement on the application of common rules on the use of the best available technologies. This will reduce carbon leakage and relocation threats, and help drive innovation. But that in turn will require making intellectual property rights more flexible to ensure access to the best available technologies.
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- UBV COP16 – More Adaptation Resources for Vulnerable People
- UBV COP16 – Cities Are the Focus for Climate Action
- UBV COP16 – Intensify efforts for a global shift to energy-efficient lighting
Authors: Val
