The Sky is Not the Limit: - Carbon Trade Watch

Permit System (STEPs) programme in2000. Shell aims to reduce GHGemissions 10 per cent below 1990levels by 2002 and exceed Kyototargets through 2010. The tradingsystem includes Shell business unitsin Southern countries, which will hostemission-reduction projects. Thesepermit-generating projects and theway the permits can be sold on intothe system are modelled on the CDM. 45.3 Corporate Lobby GroupsJust as the business community oncelobbied for ‘more evidence on climatechange’ and then ‘the inclusion ofmarket-based mechanisms to achievegreenhouse gas reductions’, they arenow lobbying for as many marketopportunities as possible within theKyoto trading regime. The manydifferent trading schemes create a riskthat the market will developincompatibilities at the internationaland national levels.A fragmented market raises businesscosts, since bridging mechanismsbetween schemes will have to becreated and it generally becomesmore difficult for companies to managerisk. Business also repeatedly lobbiesfor rule standardisation betweendifferent trading schemes. Thecorporate argument is that the legaland administrative costs of completinga trade need to be as low as possiblefor the markets to be “cost-effective” -thus equating cheapness with costeffectiveness.International Chamber ofCommerce (ICC): The mostprominent and powerful of corporatelobby groups is the ICC and theirposition reflects most accurately thespectrum of corporate lobbyingstrategies. At the last subsidiarybodies meeting of the UNFCCC beforethe WSSD in 2002, ExxonMobilpresented the ICC discussion paperon the role of companies in the KyotoMechanisms. The discussion paperstates that the ICC believes:• countries should recognise all validgreenhouse gas emission permitsregardless of the national source orfinal owner of the permits;• nations should not impose importor export controls on exchanges ofgreenhouse gas emissions permits;31