Wednesday

7th Jun 2023

Some 'green' projects bad for climate, report says

  • A programme under the Kyoto climate treaty may have actually increased emissions by 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Photo: arbyreed)

The use of carbon credits under the Kyoto climate treaty may have worsened climate change instead of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a study published Monday (24 August) by a Swedish research institute.

It argued that poor oversight has allowed the funding of projects that are unlikely to have reduced carbon emissions, which are responsible for helping the earth's temperature rise to a dangerous level.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, set binding reduction targets for 37 countries in the period 2008-2012. Countries were allowed to buy carbon credits instead of actually reducing emissions at home.

One way of buying carbon credits was by investing in climate projects in other countries.

The idea was that the reduction achievement could be greater in countries where the situation was much worse.

Retrospective blow

However, the Stockholm Environment Institute found that about 75 percent of the bought carbon credits under one Kyoto scheme called Joint Implementation (JI), “are unlikely to represent additional emissions reductions”.

“This suggests that the use of JI offsets may have enabled global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be about 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent higher than they would have been if countries had met their emissions domestically”, the authors say.

The figure is equivalent to the number of greenhouse gases emitted by one passenger car driving over 2 trillion kilometres.

The news is a retrospective blow to the European Union's flagship climate policy, the Emissions trading system (ETS).

Participants of the EU's carbon trading scheme were allowed to buy credits from Kyoto's JI programme. According to the report, more than 560 million JI units were used in the ETS.

Joint Implementation “may therefore have undermined the EU ETS emission reduction target by about 400 million tCO2”.

The environmental impact of the projects varied greatly because of a lack of common standards, the authors said.

Lessons learned

“An assessment of the project portfolio in each country indicates significant environmental integrity concerns for more than 80 percent of ERUs [carbon credits under the JI scheme] from Russia and Ukraine, whereas the environmental integrity was rated as high for 70 percent of ERUs in Poland and 97 percent in Germany”.

Russian and Ukrainian companies benefited from the scheme by selling credits for projects that were already underway and “clearly not motivated by carbon credits”, one of the authors told climate change news website RTCC.

“This was like printing money”, said Vladyslav Zhezherin.

Some Kyoto projects had already come under fire in the past years, and several have been banned from participating in the EU's carbon credit scheme.

In another sign that lessons were learned, the EU's new emissions reduction target for 2030 - a 40 percent reduction compared to 1990 levels - may only be achieved domestically, which means that buying carbon credits from outside the EU will no longer be possible.

The authors argued that their research shows that more oversight is needed for any international market mechanism that may come out of current negotiations on a new climate treaty, which is hoped to be signed in December in Paris.

EU on track to meet Kyoto targets using controversial offsets

The EU members that are signatories to the Kyoto Protocol are on track to meet their greenhouse gas reduction target commitments under the 1997 UN framework, although Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain will not meet their targets and it is only through offsetting their emissions that they can claim a win. Austria, meanwhile, expects to fall short of its commitment by 12.9 percent even with offsets taken into account.

Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears

Finalising the EU-Mercosur agreement is a priority for the EU and the upcoming Spanish EU council presidency, ahead of the summit with Latin America and the Caribbean countries to be held in Brussels on 17 and 18 July.

ECB: eurozone home prices could see 'disorderly' fall

The European Central Bank in its Financial Stability Review warned EU home prices could see a 'disorderly' fall as high mortgage rates are making houses unaffordable for households and unattractive for investors.

Analysis

Final steps for EU's due diligence on supply chains law

Final negotiations on the EU due diligence law begin this week. But will this law make companies embed due diligence requirements in their internal processes or incentive them to outsource their obligations to third parties?

Latest News

  1. Final push for EU-Mercosur deal, amid deforestation fears
  2. Ministers given 50/50 chance of reaching EU asylum deal
  3. EU Commission wants better focus on mental health care
  4. Right of Reply from the Hungarian government
  5. True scale of horror in today's Belarus hard to comprehend
  6. Israeli settlers encircling Jerusalem, EU envoys warn
  7. No clear 'Qatargate effect' — but only half voters aware of EU election
  8. Part of EU middle class 'being squeezed out', MEP warns

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us