Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’ Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’

Financial Times: Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’ points out that much of the carbon offset programs are bogus. The FT investigation found:

• Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions.


• Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.


• Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.


• A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.


• Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts.

Who would have guessed? Unfortunately, this means that it is going to be just that much harder for Al Gore and Laurie David to fly around the country on private jets exorting us to sacrifice to help prevent Global Warming.