Hi readers, Zach here on a sunny Friday afternoon. Here's what happened in the enviro-climate space this week.
On Unearthed
Payments for carbon offsets are routinely ending up in the hands of middlemen instead of the conservationists they are designed to fund.
A joint investigation by Unearthed and Source Material found brokers buying carbon credits from forestry projects in poorer countries and selling them on to consumers and companies, including airlines and oil firms, at inflated prices.
Carbon markets are notoriously opaque and prices are secret but estimates by intelligence firm Allied Offsets identified almost 250 projects where brokers resold credits for at least three times the purchase price.
In one example, leaked emails show a broker claiming to a potential buyer that “typically 85-95%” of any purchase price goes to the project owner. But in the same exchange, the broker offered credits at a price seven times higher than they had originally paid.
Our latest investigation into the offsetting industry can be read here.
It follows a couple of terrific investigative pieces by Bloomberg into the trade, one in which a timber company CEO describes his ‘come to jesus moment’ about the dodgy offsets his company had profited from, and another that details how US public forests are now getting in on the action, with questionable climate benefits.
What we’re reading about
The windfall tax question
Shell and BP saw their quarterly profits soar, largely due to rising energy prices driven by the war in Ukraine. The oil major earnings, which are forecast to exceed £11b from the North Sea alone this year, come at a time when households are facing an historic cost of living crisis, and are heaping fresh pressure on the British government to introduce a one-time levy on energy industry profits: the windfall tax.
The environment secretary has said the measure is ‘under review,’ whilst the business secretary has written to the oil industry demanding that it reinvest its profits into the UK energy transition.
Meanwhile the Italian prime minister is raising the windfall tax on energy company profits to 25%, up from 10%, to help fund relief measures for struggling households, including a 200 euro cash payment for millions of Italians.
and ‘relentless’ deforestation
Deforestation in key ecosystems continued at an alarming rate last year, despite promises made at COP26 to end deforestation by the end of the decade.
A new report by World Resources Institute found that the tropics lost 11.1m hectares of tree cover last year, including 3.75m ha of primary forest critical to limiting global heating and biodiversity loss.
Of the primary rainforest that was lost in 2021 – releasing the equivalent of India’s annual fossil fuel emissions – 40% disappeared in Brazil, with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, Indonesia and Peru making up the rest of the top five.
This recalls our investigation last month into lobbying against the EU’s ambitious deforestation policy by the world’s biggest commodities traders.
Meanwhile there’s a lot of chatter this week about a new study that claims cutting meat consumption by 20% could cut deforestation rates in half.
In other news
The OPEC oil producing countries rejected Western calls to significantly increase output so that they can more easily move away from using Russian oil, The Times reports
The UK’s leading climate change denial group has received significant donations from funds in the United States with ties to the fossil fuel industry, despite claims it does not accept money from people with stake in energy companies, openDemocracy has found.
A global poll from Ipsos Mori shows in which countries people say they’ll cut down on meat for climate reasons. Whilst more than 60% of respondents in Peru, Mexico and China say they plan to, a third or less in the United States, France and Japan will reduce meat consumption.
What we loved this week
This splendid headline from the New York Times
Đăng nhận xét