EU carbon price collapse demonstrates carbon markets are no climate solution The overnight collapse of the European carbon price demonstrates the many problems associated with Australia linking our carbon price to the European scheme according to Friends of the Earth Australia. The EU carbon price collapsed to around AU$3.20 per tonne before rebounding slight to AU$4 per tonne after the EU Parliament last night voted against the ‘backloading proposal’ to postpone the auction of 900 million gigatonnes of the Phase III allowances from 2013-2015 until 2016-2020.  ‘Backloading’ was a short-term fix designed to …

Media Release 29 August 2012 MR – FoE condemns dropping of carbon price floor Yesterday’s announcement by the government to cut the floor price for carbon represents another significant watering down of the environmental and democratic credibility of the scheme according to Friends of the Earth Australia, a leading environmental justice organisation. “Combet’s announcement represents a major cave in to the interests of polluting industries which have been calling for drastic cuts to the carbon tax,” said Gareth Bryant from Friends of the Earth Sydney. “The purpose of dropping the floor price is to …

On June 19 2012, Dayak Ngaju peoples in Katunjung, Indonesia held a protest to coincide with the global United Nations Rio+20 conference in Brasil – photos on this page. Local organisation Petak Danum Kalimantan Tengah released the statement below, calling on the Australian Prime Minister to act immediately to stop the REDD KFCP pilot project in Central Kalimantan. The Dayak Ngaju protest targetted the Australian government’s Kalimantan Forest and Climate Partnership REDD forest offset project in their community. It is intended as a pilot for the Asia-Pacific region to potentially create …

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 …

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 …