Take part alongside Copenhagen climate talks: You can help fund developing world projects at low cost
As we approach the environmental and political climax of the decade, public understanding around the importance of taking action against climate change is on the increase. Many people want to take voluntary action to show their backing for a global deal.
If you haven’t offset yet this year, or you’ve taken some flights recently that you haven’t got round to offsetting, act today. Your money will help fund emission reduction projects that not only benefit our environment and the climate at a global level but have additional benefits for the individuals most affected by the changes brought about by anthropogenic climate change to date. People living in the developing world are already suffering the worst droughts, flooding and severe weather seen for years.
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Help China switch from fossil fuelled electricity to wind farms; read about Mulan Wind. |
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Improve the health and finances of families across Cambodia; read about efficient stoves. |
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Help farmers flourish in the Punjab region of India, whilst reducing CO2, SO2 and soot. |
Featured Project: Bangladesh efficient cook stoves
Taking a look at the 'programmatic' approach to projects ...
A new, innovative approach to carbon offset project funding is being used this year by ClimateCare in a large scale dissemination of cook stoves with improved efficiency. The Programme of Activities (PoA) approach allows an unlimited number of projects to be run under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) methodologies (approaches to running a project), all leading to carbon emission reductions.
It is the first time that the physical boundary of a programme may extend to more than one country and is a crucial way for technology to be scaled to achieve significant volumes of emission reduction without incurring prohibitive costs. The approach allows many different entities, such as local companies and NGOs, to take part in a single emission reduction programme which can be registered for a period as long as 28 years.
Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, points out the key advantage of PoA, in saying, "Programmatic CDM is expected to enormously enhance the chances of small and poor countries getting access to the CDM. In such countries, single projects are often too small to be commercially attractive. As a consequence, many small and poor countries are not benefiting from the CDM at the moment. The programmatic approach could dramatically change this".
Bangladesh: an example achieving scalability
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the World and endures a tough climate with frequent cyclones, floods and droughts. Bangladesh is also densely populated with a population of 150 million people (about 30 million households). The majority (90%) of the rural population depend on biomass, typically wood fuel, to meet their energy needs. In 2000, 45 million tonnes of biomass was consumed in the country for fuel. There is already a basic scarcity of fuel in the country as only 14% of land is forest-covered which results in rural Bangladeshis spending more time and money collecting and buying fuel for cooking. A window of opportunity has therefore arisen for the dissemination of improved cooking stoves to save on wood fuel.
The project
Image: Improved Cook Stoves in Bangladesh
This project, a strong example of potential emission reductions under a Programme of Activities framework, makes use of more efficient domestic stoves that not only require less fuel but also cook food more quickly and are less smoky than traditional ones. The improved stoves give an average of 50% fuel savings and the project is planning for these to reach 5 million rural households by 2015.
Following the failure of its own project, the Bangladeshi government is unwilling to invest in improved cook-stoves and so carbon finance is essential to push out the project to families across Bangladesh. Designed to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), the project will be available for funding from 2010. This project’s principal unique feature is that by marrying conventional project finance techniques with innovative carbon finance structures, it enhances the scalability of the project which has not been achieved in earlier projects.
Benefits beyond emissions
Social:
- Creating employment and building capacity throughout the supply chain i.e. in manufacturing, distribution, retailing, quality control and project management.
- The new cook stoves require less fuel, which in many areas can be a scarce resource or very expensive to buy. Users have also found the cook stove to be more convenient, shortening cooking times.
- Improved living standards as a result of financial savings from reduced fuel costs. Reduction in wood consumption also implies relief from drudgery and more opportunity for productive activity arising from less time spent collecting fuel.
Economic:
- The introduction of a locally-manufactured technology with optimised energy efficiency helps to build technological self-reliance.
- Human and institutional capacity will be raised through the business development component of the project.
Environmental:
- The new cook stoves are less smoky, reducing emissions of hazardous air pollutants and improving the health of the cooks, typically mothers and children.
- Biodiversity will be improved as the project reduces pressure on remaining forest reserves in Bangladesh.
- Significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions through a reduction in charcoal consumption.
ClimateCare offsets 'Ghost Forest' in Trafalgar Square and Copenhagen
Earlier this month London awoke to find Trafalgar Square inhabited by a series of large rainforest tree stumps, many complete with their buttress roots, which had been transported from a commercially logged tropical primary forest in Western Africa. The installation, entitled 'Ghost Forest', is the vision of artist Angela Palmer, and its intention is to inspire and provoke debate about the future of the world's rainforests.
The carbon cost of 'Ghost Forest' has been calculated and offset through a ClimateCare project which has introduced more energy efficient cooking stoves to Ghana, meaning fewer trees are needed to provide cooking fuel.
The installation stood in Trafalgar Square for one week, between 16-22 November, before being moved to Thorvaldsens Plads (a city centre square in Copenhagen) where it will stand to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference from December 7-18.
Trafalgar Square was a particularly appropriate location: with Nelson's Column standing at over 50 metres (169 feet) tall, it is the approximate height many of the 'Ghost Forest' trees would have stood at in the forest. In Copenhagen, the Ghost Forest will stand as a symbol of threatened rainforests throughout the world, as 11,000 delegates from 192 countries debate their future.
The trees, of nine different species, were sourced in the Suhuma forest, Western Ghana and shipped to Tilbury Docks in East London as part of a huge logistical undertaking. The artist originally planned to exhibit the tree stumps upright, but on seeing the roots exposed and cleaned of soil 'it was like seeing the nerve endings of the planet.' The tree stumps were laid on their sides on plinths in Trafalgar Square, by which presentation the artist aimed to ‘elevate the rainforest literally and metaphorically, like Nelson.'
 Angela Palmer began her epic journey to bring the rainforest trees to England after a discussion with Andrew Mitchell, director of the international scientific alliance the Global Canopy Programme and an adviser on rainforests to Prince Charles. 'He alarmed me with statistics: a tropical forest the size of a football pitch is destroyed every four seconds, meaning an area twice the size of Belgium is lost every year. The government's then chief scientific adviser said climate change was a greater threat to humanity than terrorism. The decision to do something was easy; the logistics have been a nightmare.'
The artist chose to source the tree stumps in Ghana, which over the last 50 years has lost 90 per cent of its primary rainforests. Ghana is now determined to preserve what is left, and is at the vanguard of responsible and sustainable forestry. Its remaining forestry concessions are selectively logged under strict regulations, which allow for the retention of the forest canopy, the natural regeneration of the forest and a viable and sustainable timber industry for local people. To reflect this, only a couple of trees in Ghost Forest have been logged, the rest are naturally fallen. 'This is not yet another message about climate change "doom and gloom"', says the artist, 'It carries a message of hope and optimism for the future'.
Only a few years to curb emissions and avoid 6C warming, UK Met Office says
The Global Carbon Project has released figures highlighting the difficulty we face in curbing emissions to limit global warming. Between 2000 and 2008 global carbon emissions rose by 29%. All of that growth came in developing countries, although a quarter of this was as a result of the production of goods for consumption in developed nations.
With next month's Copenhagen climate summit negotiations becoming increasingly tense, these figures put greater focus and urgency on achieving a balance between developed and developing country emission reduction targets. In a statement to BBC News Corinne Le Quere, lead author of the study published in Nature Geoscience, said that Copenhagen will be “our last chance to stabilise at 2C in a smooth and organised way”. If negotiations do not produce a new global deal to reduce emissions we will no longer be on course for 2 or 3C global warming, but 5 or 6C.
The Global Carbon Project study reveals a significant and politically important difference between the emissions produced directly within a country and those produced through the consumption of goods and services within that country. In developed nations, the latter far exceeds the former. Alongside this the overall trend of emissions per capita is increasing, with current emissions from consumption of goods and services at 1.3 tonnes per capita up from 1.1 tonnes a decade ago.
Richard Betts of the UK Met Office did caution the longer term analysis of global temperature rise, though went on to state that "if we want to be staying below 2C then it's true to say we've only got a few years to curb emissions. If we continue to let emissions rise without mitigation, there's a strong chance we'll hit 4C and beyond."
The misperceptions of carbon emissions trading: CMIA advocates more political pressure to set caps
Following an article published in the Guardian earlier this month, in which Friends of the Earth criticised carbon trading, the Carbon Markets and Investors Association (CMIA) have responded to show that it is an important step in climate change action and there is a common goal at stake. It is not the market that failed but the policies governing how the market works. Alexandra Galin responded on behalf of CMIA:
"Your article is profoundly disheartening (Carbon trading is useless, says Friends of the Earth report, 5 November). Instead of adding political pressure to commit to emissions reduction targets, FoE criticises carbon markets and investors, who are working to make this common goal a reality.
You report: "FoE says that to date cap-and-trade carbon markets have done almost nothing to reduce emissions ... [and are] unfit for purpose." They are misinformed. Markets do not reduce emissions and were not created for that purpose. Technology, energy efficiency and behavioural changes deliver reductions. Markets incentivise and finance these by putting a cost-effective price on the carbon that is most cost-effective.
"FoE claims that the first phase of the European emissions trading scheme between 2005 and 2007 failed. And the second phase, from 2008 to 2012, is likely to fail too." It was not the market that failed in the first phase, but the policies that governed how the market worked. The EU designed a system in which a large proportion of emissions allowances were given away, to defray costs for industry. Phase one was the test phase and, lacking precise data, they gave away too many allowances that could not be carried over into phase two. These two design elements caused the price crash in 2007.
But the second phase was designed much more prudently. Studies note that emissions fell in year one, and analysts agree that they continue to fall. Phase two is a success. It is important to look at the markets in the longer term, just as targets are set with a 2020 goal.
Misguidedly, FoE calls for governments to use more "reliable instruments", such as a tax to replace a market-based scheme. Yet a tax is anything but reliable; it does not allow for visible target-setting, and it does not guarantee that emissions will be reduced. A carbon tax is simply another cost of doing business; as production and profits grow, the tax is paid while emissions rise. By contrast, an emissions cap allows for a clear environmental goal and a measurable target, and incentivises further reductions.
You report the FoE's fears that markets could be "hijacked by speculators and financial markets". This fear displays a failure to understand that financial institutions participate in the market largely on behalf of businesses that do not have the capacity or expertise to do so themselves. Furthermore, there are no "complex" instruments creating "shadow finance" – carbon trading uses essentially the same simple market instruments as trading in gold, wheat and coal. They have been used over decades and during recent and historical financial cycles without causing crises.
Yet a carbon market is only as good as the cap. The more ambitious the emissions reduction targets, the more visibly and effectively a market performs its function. Market nay-sayers would make better use of their time by increasing the political pressure to set ambitious reduction targets and recognise that markets help with the cost of achieving them. To criticise those who share their objective is to risk political inaction."
IPCC lowers estimated emissions volume from deforestation
Scientists have recalculated the total carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation as a percentage of overall manmade CO2 emissions, and the result has reduced from 20% (estimated in 2007) to 12% of 2008’s overall emissions.
Image: Shutterstock
Unfortunately this can not be attributed to a reduction in rates of deforestation and forest degradation since 1990 but rather it is simply a result of a more comprehensive calculation process and the relative increase of emissions arising from fossil fuel combustion. A group of scientists and environmental organisations at the UN climate negotiations last week stated "this new estimate is not a sign of progress" but instead "reflects our improved ability to measure the emissions due to deforestation".
The new estimate of emissions from deforestation as a percentage of global emissions places an ever greater urgency on tackling the use of fossil fuels as our primary source for energy production. It does not in any way diminish the need to stop the seriously dangerous rate of global deforestation, but shows that the proportion of benefit we can gain from low carbon and energy efficient systems is greater than previously thought.
Emission reductions, such as those achieved through carbon offset projects switching people away from the use of fossil fuels, should come from a variety of project types. The new report disclosing the 12% figure, published in this month’s Nature Geoscience journal, stated that "reducing fossil fuel emissions remains the 'key element' for stabilising atmospheric CO2 concentration".
Enough melted ice to cause 50-60 metres sea-level rise
Data published in a report in the journal Nature Geoscience this month reveals that the previously stable East Antarctic ice sheet may be losing mass. Whilst scientists apply a collection of caveats to the news, including uncertainties around whether it is attributable to climate change, there is a level of surprise around the findings and their potential impact is colossal.
Where the complete melting of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could raise sea levels by 6 to 7 metres, the East Antarctic could eclipse this with enough water to cause a potential sea-level rise of 50-60 metres.
The discovery comes from Nasa’s gravity-measuring twin satellites working on their Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission. The data finds major loss since 2006, in the region of 57 billion tonnes of ice lost each year. This change is all the more significant given no net ice loss in the 4 preceding years.
The change is likely driven by coastal areas being lubricated by lakes of water under the ice sheet and advancing their progress towards the sea. Where sea temperatures and weather patterns change with global warming, the potential for East Antarctic chain reaction impact is vast.
This is just another example of what is at stake in the fight against climate change. Action must be taken at the local level in order to have a global impact. The risks of inaction far outweigh the cost of action and we cannot afford to wait for governing legislation; as individuals and organisations we need to take every step possible to avert climate change while an international global accord is reached. Every measure taken now to help avert extreme change will have a genuine and global benefit, especially where this avoids the potential chain reaction consequence presented by the East Antarctic ice sheet.
important contribution to help to fund emission reduction projects in the developing
world.
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