Huge scam on the making. <The scheme is the market mechanism of the Kyoto protocol, which comes into force on February 16 and aims to reduce the emission of so-called greenhouse gases linked to global warming.>
I've seen 3G spectrum auctions. I've Y2K. I've seen the oil "crisis" of 1973
This is going to be big. Potentially, the biggest scam ever! Watch it develop. It has the hallmark of a potential scam. A scam that even a Nigerian would look to it in awe!
1) Fear created to make ignorant masses pliable and soft to be useful to be fleeced.
2) Fuzzy unobjective ways of measure.
3) Loopholes the size of Chilean copper mine for the cunning to use.
Huge potential for South Africa in EU emission trade
February 9, 2005
By Ed Stoddard
Johannesburg - South Africa had huge potential to sell carbon credits to European industries under the EU's international carbon dioxide emissions trading scheme, a conference heard yesterday.
The scheme is the market mechanism of the Kyoto protocol, which comes into force on February 16 and aims to reduce the emission of so-called greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
Under the scheme, industrial sites have been set limits on the carbon dioxide they can emit. If they exceed them, they must pay a fine or buy allowances from firms that undershoot their targets.
Companies and industries have no set Kyoto targets for emission reductions in South Africa, which is classed as a developing country.
Under the clean development mechanism, they can still sell carbon credits to European companies that exceed their caps - provided they demonstrate that they have reduced their own emissions under an approved and verified project.
And as the world's 14th-biggest polluter, with a heavy dependency on coal but the technical expertise to clean up its act, South Africa could become a major player in this emerging field.
"South Africa is particularly attractive for the clean development mechanism because the emissions are so high," Randall Spalding-Fecher, director of ECON analysis, an energy and environmental consultancy, told the conference, called Carbon Emissions: A Financial Markets Perspective.
The market is still very much in its infancy. While South Africa is ripe for it, few have taken the plunge.
Spalding-Fecher said only a few projects in South Africa were at the feasability study stage.
"The potential for South Africa in this regard is huge," Valli Moosa, South Africa's former environment minister, said on the sidelines of the conference.
"Kyoto is really a work of beauty. South African companies can cut their emissions, sell the credits to Germany, and bring foreign investment into the country," he said.
busrep.co.za |
