02 Jun 2005

There are a number of interesting critiques on the Kyoto Protocol at a national and international level.

What are the real incentives to invest into this new regime?

“Cover a windswept hilltop with wind turbines and you get a subsidy. Cover it in pine trees and you get zip.” Carbon Monitor, Vol 10, Issue 5, June 2005.

The June edition of the Carbon Monitor discusses the New Zealand government’s proposal in the May budget announcement, which introduces a new tax based on the carbon content of fossil fuels. The Carbon Monitor points out the following:

• The Government has doled out 10 million carbon credits, worth upwards of $100 million on the international market, to give incentives to projects like wind farms that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• Titled as the Forestry Industry Development fund, the industry will get $20 million over the next five years but this will require the industry to contribute an extra $3.8 million. It includes funding for such "industry good" purposes as market access and development, skills and training, bio-energy and encouraging excellence in wood design in the construction industry.
• There is a scheme to reward the establishment of permanent, non-commercial forests. But there is no taxpayer-funded incentive to establish new commercial Kyoto forests, the kind you are allowed to harvest.

The CARBON MONITOR is a newsletter published by Environmental Intermediaries & Trading Group Limited. It covers many issues on commercialising the carbon offsets created by Kyoto and provides regular updates with commentary. You may sign up for Carbon Monitoring for free by emailing Richard Hayes - rhayes@nznet.gen.nz with your full contact details.

Click June 2005 to read this months Carbon Monitor.

New Zealand has signed up to a liability of $9 billion to $14 billion at today's value through its commitment to the Kyoto protocol, according to KPMG tax partner Greg Bishop. Read the full article in The Dominion Post

What are the real benefits to the environment?

Another interesting article is by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero titled Carbon Trading or Climate Justice? which is a good read.

It is a basic critique to the idea that the Kyoto protocol is about saving the environment. It points out that the Protocol's "flexible," market-based mechanisms allow corporate polluters to evade their emissions reduction obligations by buying up and trading carbon sinks, also known as carbon assets or carbon offsets.

The supporters of the Kyoto Protocol see this trade is part of the emerging market in "environmental services," which can harness market forces and private property to provide economic incentives for environmental protection. Whereas some environmentalists and indigenous peoples warn that this trade signals a new wave of enclosure and privatization of natural resources. They claim it has plenty to do with making money and nothing to do with saving the environment.

Carmelo Ruiz Marrero is a Puerto Rican freelance journalist and environmental educator, and writes regularly for the IRC Americas Program His bilingual web page is devoted to global environmental and development.