Hidden away in the pages of UN-speak that make up the Paris Agreement are the makings of global carbon market in which a host of exotic emissions derivatives can be freely traded, writes Steffen Böhm. And it's all going to be a huge and expensive distraction from the real and urgent task of cutting emissions.
Carbon trading has a remarkable record of failure: rewarding polluters while causing no discernible reduction in global emissions. If the COP21 UN climate negotiations in Paris are to achieve anything of value, first they must ditch the false solution of carbon markets. And thanks to Pope Francis, the idea is firmly on the agenda.
Germany's 'Energiewende' has made the country a global renewable energy powerhouse. So why have its carbon emissions gone up? Not because of nuclear closures, writes Melanie Mattauch, but because powerful fossil fuel companies have blocked effective climate action. Now the fight is on as public calls to keep the coal in the ground get too loud to ignore.
Exclusive film looks at allegations that a coal power project in central India, approved under the UN's Clean Development Mechanism, is destroying forests and livelihoods
Like carbon trading, REDD and food speculation before it, the buying and selling of water is just the latest example of market principles being applied to natural resources. But just how ethical is it? Debika Ray reports
Carbon offsetting isn't perfect but Much Better Adventures’ partnership with environmental charity, the Converging World, has produced an initiative that just might work
In Uganda, as in the rest of the world, carbon trading is a controversial topic. But could the concept of fair trade carbon credits revolutionise the sector, or is it just a distraction from the bigger problems with carbon markets? Adam Corner investigates
Disney avoids emission cuts by investing $15.5 million in carbon offsetting schemes criticised by campaigners, including projects soon to be banned in the EU
The idea of a personal energy allowance, dismissed by government officials, could help ensure fair and equal access to energy and spur collective action to meet emission reduction targets says a new report
Oil giant's investment in Indonesian REDD conservation project is a crude attempt to increase profit and gloss over its expanding oil drilling operations, say campaigners
European observers say it is going to be as ‘big as the carbon market’, but is buying a licence to cause ecological damage a sound strategy? Tom Levitt investigates
Heavy industry has pleaded for special treatment since the European Emissions Trading System was set up, but a new report suggests their complaints were exaggerated
The European Emissions Trading Scheme was always going to disappoint the NGOs who wanted a perfect climate solution, but simply bashing it ignores the progerss that can be made through small steps
Come 31st of January - the day when international emissions cuts were supposed to be announced - carbon markets should have rocketed. They didn't, and that's a bad sign
