We challenge the European Commissioner in charge of the European Emissions Trading Scheme to justify the carbon offsetting bubble at the heart of the EU climate policy.
Produced by Phil England for Climate Radio and ResonanceFM. Please drop me a quick note if you broadcast this programme at phil@switch-off.co.uk. Many thanks! www.climateradio.org www.resonancefm.com
It is one of the greatest political conjuring tricks ever performed on the general public. It is the fatal flaw at the heart of both the EU and US climate policies which threatens to make a scientifically robust and fair climate deal in Copenhagen impossible. It is the reason that when the EU says it is cutting greenhouse gases 20% by 2020 or 30% if there is a global deal in Copenhagen, they are in fact putting a cut of just 10 or 15% on the negotiating table. And it is the reason why when the UK says it is cutting greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050 it is actually committing itself to a cut of only 40% within the UK.
This week on âThe 300-350 Showâ we take a look at the creative accounting mechanism which makes this sleight of hand possible - carbon offsetting under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism â more commonly known at the CDM.
We take the argument against large-scale carbon offsetting under the CDM to the head of the Market-Based Instruments Unit at the European Commission; and we hear from a co-author of the most accessible report yet on the case against carbon offsetting under the CDM.
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A Dangerous Distraction (Friends of the Earth) www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/news/dangerous_distraction_20319.html The Rich World Can Relax: we just need the poor world to cut their emissions by 125% (George Monbiot, The Guardian, 17 July 2009) www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jul/13/climate-change-emissions-uk Money and Lobbyists Hurt European Efforts to Curb Gases (New York Times, 11 Dec, 2008) www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/worldbusiness/11carbon.html?_r=3&em=&pagewanted=all Understanding the European Commissions Climate Communication (Third World Network, March 2009) www.twnside.org.sg/title2/climate/briefings/TWN_bonn_march_BP2.doc Towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen (European Commission, December 2008) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/future_action.htm
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The 300-350 Show is made for ResonanceFM in London and is syndicated free to not-for-profit community radio stations and independent media outlets around the globe. The programme is named after what is now believed to the safe level in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This finding is based on the work of James Hansen and his team in a paper titled "Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim." http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1126
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