How Much for a
Cleaner Conscience?
As Candida wrestles with childbirth again, Andreas Arvanitakis considers his options to make Iris’s
life a happier one.
I DECIDED IT would make sense to take our first born, Iris, to Athens mends that these credits, termed
for a long weekend. I wanted to catch up with relations, Iris wanted Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs)
to play in the sea, and with a second baby due soon, mother are used for offsets as they have
(Candida) could do with a weekend of peace, being eight months already passed through the rigours of
pregnant and succumbing to most of the symptoms that state offers. the CDM project approval process. I
The problem with the short-haul Citybreak nowadays is that it can buy 1.2 CERs (each one accounts
comes with ethical baggage: How do I square such a lighthearted for a tonne of CO
2
) for €19 (€15.80
jaunt to the homeland with the imperative to temper the impact on per tonne) – less than half the cost
the climate? Easy; offset the emissions on the flight. quoted by the Swiss firm and this
Late one evening I fired-up the laptop and surfed for some suitable option appears to include that elusive
carbon offset credits. I tried a Zurich-based online service. Their car- ethical dimension.
bon calculator informed me that the return flight for two (Heathrow- In the coming months the UK govern-
Athens) would result in the emission of 2.3 tonnes of CO
2
. The offset ment is to publish its proposal for stan-
would require paying them to invest in renewable energy and effi- dards by which purveyors of carbon off-
ciency projects, either in Switzerland or farther afield: Solar power in set credits will be judged to gain entry
Eritrea, hydropower in Indonesia etc.. The cost: €55.40, or €24 per to a new registry of accredited offset
tonne of CO
2
. providers. It is attempting to establish a
This was rather much more than we were expecting. A tonne of CO
2
single standard against which all
in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) spot providers would be judged, to settle the
market is worth just €0.10 [Dec ’07]. Even in the forward market, the debate on what constitutes satisfactory
highest price in the Kyoto system, the cost is no more than environmental integrity.
€20/tonne. Plus, I could not see how I could prevent my money going It is expected to require that projects
to projects that might fall foul of media scrutiny of the offset indus- from which the offset credits are
Recent investigations ... have cast doubt on the
sourced are approved under one of the
Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanisms,
integrity of some of the projects from or the EU ETS.
which offset credits are sourced
With the proliferation of standards,
the debate is unlikely to halt the day
try. Recent investigations by the BBC, Financial Times, New York the UK’s standard is published. A group
Times, Guardian, Observer, Business Week and the UK’s Channel 4 of financial players in the carbon mar-
have cast doubt on the integrity of some of the projects from which ket – European Carbon Investor
offset credits are sourced, coining terms such as “carbon cowboys”. Services (ECIS) – even floated its stan-
The Swiss website I was looking at used its own standards to vet dard since the UK began consulting
the projects and could not specify which ones would receive my business and NGOs on its own. ECIS
money, nor how much would be siphoned off in fees. wanted to throw the net wider while
So, on to the second offset provider, this time based in London. It keeping the same level of environmen-
reckoned my return flight from Heathrow to Athens would result in tal integrity. For example, it would allow
the emissions of just 1.2 tonnes of CO
2
– half the amount calculat- for credits from projects that would sat-
ed by the Swiss firm. It offers 3 different funds in which to invest, isfy the CDM approval criteria but are
depending on the project quality. situated in the US. The US cannot host
The cheapest tonne of CO
2
could be had by flaring methane from a CDM project precisely because it has
a disused coal mine in the US. Just €9 for the 1.2 tonnes of CO
2
or withdrawn from Kyoto.
€7.5 per tonne. Good, but does the US really need my foreign direct As the standards have proliferated, so
investment to improve its environmental record, especially consider- it becomes clearer that what the volun-
ing George Bush withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol? tary market needs is for consensus to
The website also offers better quality CO
2
offsets, sourcing cred- settle on one standard, or more likely a
its from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a project few, to cover one or two levels of envi-
approval process created under Kyoto. The UK government recom- ronmental and ethical ambition.
COMMODITIES NOW SEPTEMBER 2007 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96