What is carbon trading?
Carbon trading has both proponents and critics but is increasingly coming in for criticism, not least because since its introduction CO2 emissions in industrialised countries have continued to increase rather than drastically drop. The mechaniscs of carbon trading along with responses to the most commonly cited arguments for carbon trading are described in FERN’s “beginners guide to carbon trading,” which will soon be available. In the meantime, check out the CornerHouse website for detailed analysis on why carbon trading is not the answer if avoiding runaway climate change is the challenge.
FERN believes that carbon trading is a dangerous distraction from the important task of ending industrial use of fossil fuel and moving to a low carbon future. FERN focuses its campaigns on highlighting actions that the EU must take at home to ensure its carbon footprint is drastically reduced and it achieves its stated aim of keeping climate change below 2C.
FERN also believes that carbon trading becomes even more dangerous when it involves carbon offset projects - as is currently the case for all existing and planned carbon trading or 'cap-and-trade' schemes. For more information on carbon offset proejcts that involve tree planting please see SinksWatch.