Carbon Trading

"From Uganda to Guatemala, the book provides shocking case studies of carbon offset project after project that went wrong. Land grabbing, human rights violations and illegal evictions."

According to Tony Blair recently – it is possible to combine having a good time with taking care of apocalyptic climate change. He was responding to criticism that he had set a bad example by jetting off to Florida for the annual Blair family holiday. His answer to the spoil-sport environmentalists was to pay a carbon offset company Climate Care to 'neutralise' the emissions from the air travel. Carbon offsets allow a polluter (Blair in this case) to continue life as usual (flying cheaply) by paying an intermediary (Climate Care) to invest their money (minus administration costs of course) in a project that reduces emissions of greenhouse gases somewhere else. This in turn caused a secondary furore because the concept of carbon offsets is a pretty controversial one. In the background of this media frenzy, the highly respected Dag Hammerskjöld Foundation published their new book “Carbon Trading: a critical conversation on privatisation, climate change and power” edited by Larry Lohmann that does a comprehensive demolition job on Blair's fun-loving approach to the end of the world as we know it.

From Uganda to Guatemala, the book provides shocking case studies of carbon offset project after project that went wrong. Land grabbing, human rights violations and illegal evictions, the collection of essays catalogues the abuses perpetrated in the name of 'saving the planet'. In Uganda, the Dutch FACE Foundation tree-planting project in the Mount Elgon national park is an example of the occupying force that Northern polluters can have in a Southern country. Since 1994 the Foundation have been planting trees on 25,000 hectares of land where the carbon 'rights' have been given over to them for the next 100 years. This is for the primary purpose of offsetting carbon dioxide emissions. The land within the boundaries of the park is hotly contested and 300 families were evicted in 2002. Communities living on the borders of the park who previously relied on the wood, herbs and animals of the forest now risk being shot at by guards if they trespass. The book argues that because land is politically contentious across the South, the exclusion of local people from this resource to protect 'carbon offsets' of rich Northern polluters can only be seen as an exercise in neo-colonialism.

However it is not only the dubious projects that the book takes issue with but also the wider system of carbon trading into which they fit. Carbon trading lies at the heart of the international treaty on climate change – the Kyoto Protocol. It is the mechanism through which corporate polluters and industrialised governments can trade greenhouse gases instead of reducing their own emissions. It works on the same principle as offsets but with the added bonus that countries and companies can trade credits between themselves rather than invest directly in a project. In this way it acts as a kind of currency. The chapter on the history of its birth onto the UN scene from US fossil fuel lobbyists via the Clinton administration is a fascinating insight into the horse-trading and brinkmanship that goes on at international negotiations. It is also a disturbing glimpse into the machinations of corporate power and neoliberal infiltration of the environmental sphere.

In the conclusion, the book's editor Larry Lohmann gives a stirring analysis of the political dangers of carbon trading by pointing out that in the short life of the climate negotiations, discussion of the precise details of the mechanism has become a “dangerous sideshow”. This has served to distract and confuse environmentalists and policy makers. In fact, for Lohmann, the resignation of policy makers to accept carbon trading as the only show in town is quitters talk. This desperate diplomacy ignores the plethora of existing tried and tested strategies that create dramatic social change. For him change does not occur in small rooms by planners but by move and counter move by all social actors in a slow and painful process of political democratisation of the issues. What climate change needs is a process of “decentring”. Shifting the solutions away from top-down entities such as the World Bank and international diplomacy and more towards grassroots movements that are already making headway on keeping fossil fuels in the ground.

If you thought carbon trading was a dull subject, think again. This book not only demonstrates that it is on the front-line of the conflict with neo-liberalism and corporate power but has infused the issue with the thrill of inspiring social justice movements across the South. If the topic intimidates you, the question and answer style of the book makes it accessible and informal. When you feel you're getting lost, the conversation steps back and gives a chance to reflect and regroup. Plus it's not all doom and gloom, the many strategies Lohmann lays out for tacking climate change from a social justice perspective are inspiring and dare I say they sound like fun! So I guess it all comes down to what your idea of a good time is after all Mr Blair.

You can order the book at