Carbon Credits Don't Do Anything

I am at work today, and despite the date that will be published along with this post, it is actually a Saturday morning, my being in the southern hemisphere and all. So I am feeling more than a bit complainy, but that is not why I started this blog, so I'm going to try to think of something else to write about.

Okay this is still a complaint, but at least it's not about work...


I don't like the emissions trading scheme National has come up with, I just don't see the scheme actually reducing carbon emissions.

The system proposes to give credits to people with trees, which are obviously absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. These can then be sold to people in industries that release carbon into the atmosphere. Having purchased carbon credits, companies can then claim to be carbon neutral, as there are specific trees out there absorbing the equivalent volume of CO2.

This buying and selling of credits is supposedly going to cost each household $3.00 a week in the increase in both food and fuel prices. Increasing the cost of living does not benefit the nation.

This does not reduce carbon emissions.
This does not begin to address the matter of non-CO2 emissions, such as nitrogen gases, sulfur or methane, which are not absorbed by tress, but can still be "off-set" by the purchase of Carbon Credits.

Speaking of Methane...
The proposed scheme will require all farmers of both dairy and beef cattle to purchase credits to off set the methane emissions produced by the anaerobic digestion of cellulose in the cows gut. Oops, went I bit science geek there... farmers will have to pay for their cows farts.

Methane is a "greenhouse" gas. But to focus so much attention on this form of emission, and this specific source, strongly suggests a limited understanding on the part of our government. New Zealand is one of the small producers of Methane gas in the world, and yet we are the only country trying to do anything about it. Methane as produced by cattle has been labeled as the big bad wolf of climate change by our government, when our greatest emission villains lie else where.

I'm not saying we should ignore methane as a contributing factor in the alteration of the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, I'm just saying we have bigger fish to fry.

We really have to look at the scheme and ask ourselves, is the motivation really in meeting our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, or in some kind of power playing within parliament? These suspicions are compounded by the lop-sided deal made with the Maori party in order get the thing passed into law.

What really is irritating about the deal with the Maori party, is that the benefiting iwi are not those that need help, they are the ones who have already made deals for compensation under the Treaty of Waitangi, and have strong financial backing. The small iwi struggling to survive in their ancestral lands, where few job or educationl opportunities are to be found, they once again get nothing.

To perfectly fair and up front, I am from Te Whauna Apanui, so perhaps I am a bit bias in wanting my small coastal people to get some help rather than just lining the pockets of those who don't acually need it. But, I wouldn't want to see my people spending the next ten years logging our forests for profit either.

If we want to make a difference to the "greenhouse" gas emissions we produce, we should not be punishing the industries, nor the consumers. Tax increases don't reduce emissions, they just makes people poorer.

A better strategy would be to provide incentives for positive change.
Subsidize the cost of planting trees on dairy farms.
Improve public transport to reduce the number of cars on the road, don't just increase the cost of registration.

We pride ourselves on being an innovative people, responsible for splitting the atom and so on, so why not out our money where our mouths are and provide better funding to researchers working on alternative fuels and more energy efficient technology.

Okay, sure with only four million people we have limited funding, I am aware of the limitations of living on a little island at the bottom of the world. But, before this whole recession thing, our government had millions of dollars in surplus funding at years end. I say, (long term perhaps) keep the promise of tax cuts in years to come, and put my money to good use.

I know, expecting anything reasonable and intelligent from a parliament peopled by bored millionaires is a pipe dream. Sigh.