Is carbon trading all hot air?
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"]I can't say I get carbon trading - I mean I understand the basic economic rationale, but I just have this feeling that it will end up as a much talked about new 'business' model that costs us all money, will have scant effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions - and will be a bureaucratic nightmare designed by modern 'managers' who don't understand business - or people - or management. Now a new report from cliamte change campaign group Sandbag says that 'hot air' carbon credits, those which do not actually result in any carbon emission reductions, will be so easy to obtain within the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that many companies will not have to make any cuts in emissions until 2015. The ETS scheme allows exemptions for big polluters like energy production, cement, steel and glass manufacturing and this, coupled with the recession, has substantially reduced the need for a carbon tarding scheme - and has reduced the need for businesses to act now to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions with Sandbag's Bryony Worthington, who co-authored the Report, saying "with too many rights to pollute in circulation, the scheme is in danger of being rendered irrelevant" and Sandbag have called for a tightening of caps on emissions. Tim Yeo MP, chair of the environment audir committee said "these findings confirm what many had begun to suspect. Although emissions trading remains conceptually valid, in practice EU ETS has not suceeded in driving investment in low-carbon technology.You can find the full report on Sandbag's site http://www.sandbag.org.uk/[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]