Carbon trading involves the buying and selling of an artificial commodity, the right to emit greenhouse gases. It comes in two forms: “cap and trade” and “offsetting”. This video, produced by Friends of the Earth Indonesia, looks at the impact carbon trading is having on Indonesia – a country whose forests are on the receiving end of carbon finance.

Climate policy is in the REDD as Durban climate negotiations conclude. Australia is pushing for decisions to establish forest carbon offsets for trade in the carbon market. However REDD offsets do not address the drivers of deforestation, says Friends of the Earth International. Government negotiators will conclude UN proceedings in Durban today, including decisions on how to finance projects under the mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). According to a new report released by Friends of the Earth International, Indonesia’s large-scale REDD project is failing to deliver …

The Gillard government has promised that their carbon trading scheme provides a ‘comprehensive plan for securing a clean energy future’. The problem is – it doesn’t! The scheme contains major loopholes which prevent it from addressing the climate crisis by driving the just transition to an equitable low carbon future. The government claims its scheme will deliver a 5% reduction in greenhouse gases (from 2000 levels) by 2020. Treasury modelling shows that the government plans to achieve this reduction by buying almost 100 MtCO2-e of ‘offsets’ from overseas. The modelling shows …

It’s time to get our heads around what the CFI means. Emissions trading schemes are ridiculously complicated, making participation in the debate suited to desk-bound policy wonks and few others. Here we offer a brief introduction of the rationale behind emissions trading and carbon offsets, before introducing the shambolic features of Australia’s new scheme.

Under the Carbon Price Mechanism $5 billion flows to polluting industries every year. Of this, $1.5 billion goes to power stations to help reduce emissions, the rest is industry compensation for lost competitiveness. Only $1 billion will go to renewables.

– We need urgent reductions in emissions, not handouts to big polluters

Today’s announcement of the Multi Party Climate Change Committee (MPCCC) agreed pathway of an interim price ‘hard-wired’ to become an emissions trading scheme takes Australia in the wrong direction, says Friends of the Earth Australia, and away from real solutions to the climate crisis.

Climate justice spokesperson Holly Creenaune said, “We’re concerned this is a resurrection of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which was rejected in the Senate and failed to win public support because it was worse than doing nothing.

“Carbon trading does not work – across the world cap-and-trade has failed to reduce emissions, harmed local communities and delayed real action; whilst delivering huge profits to polluters and financial speculators.

“The MPCCC framework repeats the mistakes of the CPRS by handing over revenue to big polluters, on top of other loopholes like cheap offsets.”

World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth April 22nd, Cochabamba, Bolivia PEOPLES AGREEMENT Today, our Mother Earth is wounded and the future of humanity is in danger. If global warming increases by more than 2 degrees Celsius, a situation that the “Copenhagen Accord” could lead to, there is a 50% probability that the damages caused to our Mother Earth will be completely irreversible. Between 20% and 30% of species would be in danger of disappearing. Large extensions of forest would be affected, droughts and floods would affect different regions …