Yet More Evidence that Cap & Trade Sucks

The latest is that the EU is looking to declare cutting down rain forests for farming are actually the maintenance of forests:

The European Commission and some EU member states hope to redefine palm oil plantations as "forests," according to a leaked document from the EU executive.

Rules governing the use of biofuels were supposed to be designed to sort out the sustainable versions of the technology from their dirtier cousins following a massive backlash against it in 2008. At the time, an avalanche of reports revealed that many forms of the fuel source both increase greenhouse gas emissions and put pressure on food prices.

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But in a manoeuvre that has shocked environmental campaigners, a draft commission communication offering guidance to EU member states on the use of biofuels has classified palm oil plantations - the source of one of the most destructive forms of biofuels - as "forests."

Essentially, the document argues that because palm oil plantations are tall enough and shady enough, they count as forests.

(emphasis mine)

This is why you go with a carbon tax: Because cap and trade, and the offsets that are inherent in the system are going to be dominated by forces that will use fraud and political influence peddling to make themselves money.

If you tax carbon when it comes from the ground, you disincentivize using fossil fuels. If you allow for offsets, you create phony carbon offsets, like palm oil forests, and Chinese hydroelectric dams that do not hook into the grid.

This is going to be a disaster.