DECC damages efforts to address climate change
There is an argument that ignoring the voluntary offset market, the politicians are missing a trick
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)’s Quality Assurance Scheme for Carbon Offsetting is blocking the important voluntary market and discouraging its expansion.
The Department favours a global regulated market, ignoring the fact that voluntary offset purchases result in greenhouse gas reductions which are additional to those required by law.
The reductions the voluntary market can provide small and medium sized businesses and large multi-nationals through a transparent, easy-to-access, platform such as Carbon Trade Exchange are a powerful way to take significant action in reducing global emissions which will be vital if the UK is to have any chance of meeting its agreed mandate of cutting CO2 emissions by 34% of 1990 levels by 2020.
If the UK should fail to reach its target, we as a country will face colossal costs further expanding an already monumental budget deficit. Despite this, since its inception, the DECC has approved just 10% of the total emissions reduction initiatives it has received. In fact, since the Department was established, just a fraction of its budget has been spent on initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while the rest has been squandered on running costs and wage bills.
Despite the crippling financial and environmental consequences of not meeting the UK’s emissions targets, the build up to the election has barely touched upon the main parties’ plans for a low carbon economy. Nuclear power is at the heart of the parties’ plans, yet this alone will not be enough to meet the 2020 targets, even as approval for new power stations is rushed through planning.
Currently, the DECC’s Quality Assurance Scheme recognises only those offsets approved under formal U.N. standards, such as Certified Emission Reductions (CERs). The Department does not recognise Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs), which are based on rigorous voluntary certification standards and ensure good quality emissions reductions in most case equal to or even superior to CDM standards..
Carbon Trade Exchange allows organisations to offset by investing in projects that produce VERs which result in a number of important secondary benefits, including the promotion of sustainable development, alleviation of poverty and in some cases, restoration of critical ecosystems and habitats. Projects that produce CERs are usually much larger scale and often lack the community focused co-benefits that VER projects generate.
Wayne Sharpe, founder and CEO of Carbon Trade Exchange comments: “The current scheme is deeply flawed because of its failure to recognise VERs. The political parties have all ignored this issue in the main, and seem to somehow assume that this problem is miraculously gong to ‘fix itself’ A total lack of effective policies or even meaningful discussion during this election campaign means they are defying Global and UN experts experts and are ruining efforts to address climate change while other countries are embracing voluntary carbon markets, by offering support to Carbon Trade Exchange and companies like ours. We represent a great opportunity to reduce the country’s emissions yet we are being discouraged from trading here.” The UK’s stance starkly contrasts that of Australia’s Victorian Government which is offering incent ives for Carbon Trade Exchange to move its headquarters to Melbourne.
The DECC scheme has failed to keep pace with developments in the voluntary carbon market. It has ignored the emergence of codes of conduct for market participants and the establishment of robust voluntary standards with transparent registries that allow for reliable accounting of offset sales in compliance with multiple leading certification standards.
These certification protocols have been developed openly through collaborations with environmental NGOs, climate policy experts and industry participants. As a country, we should be creating more incentives to finance new carbon reduction projects and providing greater opportunities for businesses and individuals to buy in to them.
“How EXACTLY is the next Government going to address the massive Global and Domestic issue of Climate Change?” Mr. Sharpe asks.
