Guest post by Catherine Lambert, Carbon Trading

Guest blog post by Catherine Lambert, Camp for Climate Action

The UN climate talks advocate market based solutions such as carbon trading. Groups such as Climate Justice Action who protested at the COP15 summit claim that carbon trading is a distraction technique that won't create the change we need. So what is carbon trading anyway and why are some environmental groups opposed to it?

It is claimed that carbon trading cuts emissions by limiting the amount of carbon that is allowed to be emitted, and dividing this amount up among countries and corporations. They are given ‘carbon credits' that basically give them a license to pollute. Credits can be sold by polluters who have emitted less than their quota, or earned through projects that claim to save carbon. But there are several major problems with this. Carbon trading is based on the free market ideology of continual economic growth, intended to make sustainability profitable. Yet it's doomed to fail, because it trusts the exact same market forces that have caused environmental destruction in the first place. Because carbon is so cheap, it's cheaper to buy these abstract credits than actually investing in renewables or efficient technology.

The most polluting companies have a huge influence over government and are given allowances free of charge. BP and Shell have made huge profits by selling these carbon credits, while the British National Health Service had to pay tens of thousands for theirs.

It is almost impossible to properly calculate or monitor these emissions; some companies apply for credits for emissions-reducing projects that would have gone ahead anyway, while others exaggerate their savings. Credits are also often earned through projects that aren't really green - such as agrofuel plantations or tree-planting "emissions offset" projects. Agrofuels have been associated with human rights abuses, often taking place on stolen communal land. By contrast, small-scale local projects created by people who really need the money generally don't attract credits as they're considered not to be worth the paperwork.

To solve climate change we know what we need to do - reduce our energy use, close down coal plants and runways, improve public transport and get energy from the wind and the sun. Carbon trading allows companies to carry on polluting as usual, while making a tidy profit. It is a distraction technique that maintains our reliance on fossil fuels and diverts resources away from real solutions.

The Climate Camp is a place for anyone who wants to take action on climate change. It's a fast-growing, grassroots movement of diverse people taking action on climate change. It's for anyone who's worried about our future and wants to do something about it. You can find out how to get involved here.

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