UN climate delegates warned against carbon market

Three NGOs jointly urged on Friday that UN climate delegates stop using carbon markets as an approach in combating climate crisis, and warned
that more harm than benefits stem from the market mechanism.

The warning came during a news conference, a joint effort of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), the Friends of the Earth (FOE), and The EU Forest Campaign (FERN), at the Tianjin UNFCCC conference a day ahead of its conclusion.

 "Carbon as a commodity into the same poorly regulated global markets that so recently tore apart developing country economies and pushed a hundred million more people into hunger is highly irresponsible," said IATP President James Harkness.

"There is a proposal here at the UNFCCC to introduce carbon credits from forests into carbon markets, but in reality, they do nothing to reduce emissions, and should not be counted as offsets," said Kate Dooley, Forests and Climate Campaigner at FERN, adding that "even offsetting is not mitigation."

Dooley argued that developed countries have agreed to offer, without conditionality, financial support to help the developing world fight against climate change. And thus the North using money to buy carbon credits from the South is wrong, she said, adding that it won't solve the problem and is bad for the South.

Nick Berning, Director of Public Advocacy and Communications, said that using carbon markets compromises climate integrity, and is subject to credit fraud and abuse, and will cause bribery for credit verifications. Issues like the uncertain nature of financial markets and high overheads will make carbon markets work less efficiently than the public fund, he added.

The organizations also argued that there are many other alternatives to carbon markets to raise funds for mitigation projects. Their opposition to carbon markets becomes noticeable and adds controversy to the issue, especially at a critical moment when the financial tool has been highly valued for its role in the global efforts in mitigating GHG emissions.

China has just announced that it will soon issue a provisional regulation on voluntary carbon trading, paving the way for creating a regional sector-based carbon market in the near term. This policy signal has long been awaited and widely welcomed, and is expected to create financial incentives for energy-efficiency and emissions-cutting tasks at provincial levels in China, contributing to the country's overall carbon intensity reduction target by 40-45% by
2020. 

Carbon markets, especially its progress in China, have created heated discussions at several side events during the Tianjin UN conference.

pictured: L-R Nick Berning, Director of Public Advocacy and Communications from the Friends of the Earth, James Harkness: President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Kate Dooley from the EU Forest Campaign