Essay by Eric Worrall
A scheme for everlasting impoverishment of poor international locations? US firms pay poor international locations to remain poor?
Kerry publicizes — and is straight away criticised for — a brand new plan to lift cash for local weather motion
By CNN 4:49am Nov 10, 2022
US local weather envoy John Kerry has introduced a brand new, controversial plan to lift money for local weather motion within the creating world — by promoting carbon credit to firms wishing to offset their polluting emissions.
Talking on the COP27 local weather summit in Egypt on Wednesday, Kerry stated the initiative ought to be “up and operating” inside a yr and would assist finance vitality transition in weak international locations. He stated Chile and Nigeria had been two international locations that had already expressed curiosity within the scheme.
However the plan has already attracted criticism due to the best way it is going to be financed — with cash raised in gross sales of carbon credit, which permit firms to pay for another person to chop their planet-warming emissions, as an alternative of reducing their very own.
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What can I say – flawed on so many fronts. For as soon as I agree with Kerry’s inexperienced critics.
Not solely would this scheme permit US firms to purchase their means out of the local weather motion greens like Kerry say is important to avoid wasting the planet, Kerry’s proposed scheme would pay poor international locations to not copy the US path to industrialisation – which might possible condemn them to staying poor.
If renewable vitality is a lot cheaper than fossil gas, as inexperienced advocates declare, poor international locations will leap on the alternative to spend money on inexperienced vitality of their very own free will, with none want for local weather finance schemes just like the one Kerry proposed. Any day now /sarc.
Replace (EW): Added The DEA Needed Poster for accused Narco-Terrorist Nicholas Maduro, the man Kerry shook arms with.
