[AZLiberty]

Most of the cash from credit sales would go to lawyers and brokers on the carbon market, but the biggest gains from Kyoto go to the environment.

Projects to stop the flaring of billions of cubic meters of natural gas, capture methane gas released by landfills, and create waste-water treatment systems, can all be financed, along with many others, simply by selling the carbon credits they produce, said Jan-Willem van de Ven, head of the carbon credit fund at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

None of these projects would happen otherwise.

Projects with no economic value spawned to benefit "lawyers and brokers" -- sounds like government as usual.

[Goldwater and Gingrich]

From the full article,

“Today, the world carbon market is worth nearly $30 billion”

No they are not! They have to find lots of rich oil and gas companies to extort from first, If they refuse to pay, then the credits are worthless, which they are.

“So the next Kyoto round is expected to get much tougher on Russia.”
Just what are they going to do, Stop buying oil from them and let their people freeze to death next winter? Send over their bombers? (I like this idea best.) I can’t remember the last time I read something so stupid. Putin will tell them to go pound sand and they need to be told that.
“There is no guarantee of carbon credits being available as a system after 2012,” said Jesse Uzzell, regional manager of MGM International, a brokerage on the carbon market. “The window of opportunity is closing.”
With Russia and the USA not buying any BS credits their will lot left. Maybe they should tell China they have to buy some credits.
Let me know how that goes.

[Neophyte]

Projects... can all be financed, along with many others, simply by selling the carbon credits they produce, said Jan-Willem van de Ven, head of the carbon credit fund at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

I would expect a little bit better economic thinking from a fat European Bank mandarine. Financing projects which will create no wealth with phoney funds created by selling nothing means to sew Emperor's non-existence garment... and insanely to pump inflation.

[babygene]

“Most of the cash from credit sales would go to lawyers and brokers on the carbon market, but the biggest gains from Kyoto go to the environment.”

My wife buys up massive amounts of carbon. For every $1000 sent to her pay-pal account, she buys one caret in diamonds...

[samtheman]

Projects with no economic value spawned to benefit "lawyers and brokers" -- sounds like government as usual.

How can you say "no economic value"? Think of all those new swimming pools the lawyers'n'brokers will be able to buy!

[Matchett-PI]

"..the biggest gains from Kyoto go to the environment."

Not so.

"..Energy-intensive industries are already moving to China, the main beneficiary by far from the Kyoto-CDM scheme.