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the beginning |
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| While we witness the emergence of a new carbon economy, key questions remain unanswered regarding the impact global pollution trading will have on society and the environment. Are people being cheated in the name of sustainable development? An urgent need for research and network-building on greenhouse gas trading and other forms of pollution trading defines the beginning of Carbon Trade Watch. | |
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dialogued into submission |
| Events which led to the adoption of pollution trading in the Kyoto Protocol show polluters successfully turning the potential threat of climate change into an opportunity for profit in the form of pollution trading. Corporations have successfully dominated United Nations (UN) process and there has been a slow decline in the ability of environmental NGOs to stand behind an environmental negotiating position. At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the NGO Global Forum stated that climate negotiators should avoid any pollution trading schemes which "only superficially address climate change problems, perpetuate or worsen inequities hidden behind the problem or have a negative impact." Later, criticism heightened with arguments that a trade in greenhouse gases would be a new form of colonialism. Public protest outside the negotiations mounted. However, eventually the combined power of multi-stakeholder dialogue, the corporate lobby and neo-liberal ideology extinguished other voices inside the negotiations. The US rejection of the Kyoto Protocol accelerated this trend. The overwhelming majority of remaining critical NGOs and governments rushed to compromise in the hope of keeping sceptical governments on board and trying to win back the US. Many environmental NGOs have negotiated themselves into a corner, which allows little space for effective critique of pollution trading but provides ample opportunities for consultancy work in the carbon economy. | |
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filling a critical vacuum |
By centring its work on bottom-up community-led projects and campaigns, Carbon Trade Watch aims to provide a durable body of research which ensures that a holistic and justice-based analysis of climate change and climate policy is not forgotten or compromised. Importantly, the project will gather and translate the work of others in this field to facilitate broader co-operation and understanding.
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