Climate change and Malawi: debate on ethical carbon
Climate Futures is presenting on ethical carbon finance abroad at a Scotland-Malawi Partnership event in Edinburgh on Monday 25 May.
This comes at a critical moment, as the Scottish Climate Bill passes through Holyrood and a debate is hotting up over levels of carbon credits abroad.
Charles will introduce carbon markets, how they work, the projects they support and where they happen. He will also give his predictions on what will come out of December's Copenhagen summit to negotiate the post-Kyoto settlement.
The presentation will also cover the likely outcome of the Climate Bill, and what it means for Scotland's ability and budget to buy carbon credits.
Crucially, it will open a debate on the types and size of overseas carbon projects that Scotland should support through carbon finance - and the level of carbon credits that the Climate Bill should include.
This debate will influence policy and Scotland's future development agenda.
Background
Tens of millions of pounds could be spent each year by the Scottish Government on overseas carbon credits. Financial support for overseas projects, and claiming their carbon reductions in return, is a likely part of the mathematics and finances of meeting Climate Bill targets in Scotland and the UK.
The big question under debate is how much of the target will be met through overseas credits. The NGO line is generally against overseas trading, as it is seen to weaken domestic reduction efforts. The UK government wants flexibility to use overseas credits in case domestic reduction efforts are politically unacceptable.
An equally big question, which has been largely overlooked by the NGOs, is how Scottish and UK carbon finance should best be spent overseas. Hydro plants in Tibet? Wind farms on the Patagonian plains? Ethical biofuels in Malawi?
This presentation, and the debate that ensues, will tackle these questions.
Why carbon finance abroad?
What are the reasons that overseas carbon finance is so likely to feature in our climate future? There are two mutually reinforcing factors:
1. Cost: Carbon reductions are expensive to achieve in the UK, relative to some developing countries. Carbon trading mechanisms allow access to cheaper carbon reductions.
2. Development imperatives: transfer of funds and know-how abroad are essential to allow poorer countries to develop. They also create a step change to less carbon intensive technologies.
Carbon finance provides a mechanism for development, whilst giving the developed world something in return (the right to pollute).
It is this last point, allowing the developed world the right to pollute, which is also creating fierce ethical debate.
These issues may all be considered on 25th May and beyond.
For more information, contact us.