III – Carbon Credits: The Rich Get Richer

The issue of Carbon credits is of great interest to me as well as a lot of others. I will not beat about the bush here. I am of the opinion that the introduction of Carbon Credits is simply another tool to line the pockets of capitalists world wide.

Reading an article from The Nation, a Thai based newspaper in English, I came across this article whereby the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation has called for the Thai Board of Investment (BOI) to interpret Carbon credits as a “product”. At the moment the BOI “considers carbon credits as a side benefit of the main investment project”. By classifying Carbon Credits as a “product”, the BOI can approve tax breaks to firms wishing to participate in clean development mechanisms.

The concept of referring to carbon credits as a product is an interesting one. Moving right along and getting a bit closer to home here in Oz there seems to be little happening in the press at the moment in regards to carbon credits, although there is some interesting information to be shared.

Of particular interest is the proposal of the Oz government to implement the new CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) sometime in 2010. Remember, the thrust of this blog to argue that the use of Carbon Credits is just a simple method to introduce a new world wide market using Carbon Credits as a commodity under the disguise of for the greater good by making the atmosphere of this planet a “cool place” in which we can all live happily ever after.
Firstly, as mentioned in my blog on the Garnaut Report, the basis of this CPRS comes from a report that takes basic scientific assumptions about climate change as given facts. This will not be argued here. What will be argued is some evidence I think is pertinent to the argument towards the creation of a “new” market which will benefit capitalism world wide.

Seeing as the whole process here seems to be guided by economists, a group that seem to have successfully crossed the socially constructed border into science (see Thomas Gieryn and boundary work) , therefore situating themselves in a position of power by interpreting science through economics. The interpretations produced by the “new scientists” (economists) are in turn used as reference by governments to produce public policy on dealing with Climate Change.
Why have the economists gained so much agency in the Climate Change issue? The simple answer is capitalism. There has to be a middle man.

Enter stage left (or right) the Bureaucracy....... more later today ...