Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 11/29/2009 5:07:41 PM PST by opentalk
You couldn't make it up: in the middle of the most serious recession for decades, with banks bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, the denizens of the City have sniffed out what they think is the next big money spinner: trading thin air. Of course, the traders aren't heckling over 50 tonnes here or there of bargain basement London smog or Somerset meadow fresh. It's carbon dioxide which is now big business – and could become even bigger if the government gets its way at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen this December.
At talks happening this week in Barcelona – the last round of talks before Copenhagen – British negotiators are pushing hard for the expansion of the global carbon market as their solution to slashing emissions. The principles are supposedly simple: if a factory with a cap of emitting 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year only emits 900 tonnes, it could sell the right to emit the remainder on the open market. The system's backers claim it will reduce emissions and provide cash to invest further in cutting emissions.
A carbon trading system is already in place in Europe, and is big business – the trade was worth $90bn in 2008, and globally is predicted to grow to up to $3.1 trillion in 2020.
But there's a catch – banks, investment funds and speculators have now become the middlemen in this shadowy trade and are packaging carbon credits into increasingly complex financial products, similar to sub-prime mortgages which triggered the recent economic crash. This risks the development of sub-prime carbon and financial crisis – with a double whammy this time of environmental catastrophe to match. It's no coincidence the government has been pushing carbon markets just as traders in the City have become
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
It reminds me of a monopoly game.
Hide the decline.
KEY ClimateGate videos here:
The MSM refuses to cover the Greatest Hoax in History?
Alert everyone you know!
Follow the Money.
A lot of political con artists are going to get rich off Carbon Credits which do not exist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.