[lbo-talk] Carbon Trading

[Patrick Bond]

Excellent article, Gar, but a small correction below: the dump in 
question was a $15 mn World Bank Prototype Carbon Fund project starting 
in 2002, but the WB apparently got cold feet last year when community 
resistance to the EIA proved formidable. So far, City officials have 
also been too nervous to try getting credits for it, though two very 
small dumps in the Durban area have been approved. It goes to show, 
social struggle sometimes works.

Gar Lipow wrote:
>
> The problem is that credits are based not on proven reductions, but on
> claims that without carbon credits the situation would be worse. A
> highly toxic landfill in Durban, South Africa gained credits for
> keeping the dump open, and burning methane from the landfill to
> generate electricity onsite. Consultants determined that only
> plausible alternative was to generate electricity from coal. Shutting
> down the site, and saving same amount of electricity through
> efficiency measures was ruled out as implausible. So was purifying
> site methane and selling it to the local gas company.
>
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