UN Climate Program Scammed by Big Oil

It appears that the UN's clean development mechanism is being gamed by energy companies top the tune of billions of pounds.

Leading academics and watchdog groups allege that the UN's main offset fund is being routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies who are claiming emission reduction credits for projects that should not qualify. The result is that no genuine pollution cuts are being made, undermining assurances by the UK government and others that carbon markets are dramatically reducing greenhouse gases, the researchers say.

The criticism centres on the UN's clean development mechanism (CDM), an international system established by the Kyoto process that allows rich countries to meet emissions targets by funding clean energy projects in developing nations.

People love market based solutions on emissions because they claim that it forces money back into more energy saving technology.

It doesn't. It pushes the actors toward cheating and market manipulation, both of which are cheaper. Taxes are easier to administer, and harder to cheat on.

The real reason that all these people favor carbon trading is because they people who drew up the regulations went to Harvard or Oxford or some other elite school, and a trading scheme allows people like them, who went to the same schools, to make money.

Really and truly, when you look at these schools, it raises a question, which is how much are they about education, and how much are they, as Maynard Handley says, "That the primary value of a Harvard undergrad education is perceived by most of the people involved to be networking --- it's how you get to meet the future great and good, and thus substantially increase your chances of being hired by Bill Gates when he starts his new company, or by some future president."

It's all about insiders dealing to insiders.