Published:
Carbon Trading not the Answer to Climate Change
I always thought the one problem with carbon markets or pollution credits is that they allow companies to carry on polluting. They don’t actually fix the problem. Now the UK policy group, the Cornerhouse has published a briefing attacking carbon trading. It was also published by the think think, Foreign Policy in Focus.
According to the Larry Lohmann, from the Cornerhouse: “In their efforts to deal with climate change, most governments are pinning their hopes largely on the carbon markets that, under US influence, have been enshrined in both the Kyoto Protocol and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
“This is a mistake” argues Lohmann. “These markets do not create the right conditions for the structural change needed to tackle global warming. On the contrary, they shore up the fossil fuel status quo while blocking constructive alternatives”.So the solution we have come up with to climate change ensures more climate change, rather than less. Whose idea was it anyway?