The Sky is Not the Limit: - Carbon Trade Watch

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ehaviour of DSW, it is difficult to seehow their financial position relates to abenefit for Sajida and other localresidents as PCF claim. DSW is notsimply short of the money that theyneed to make the dump safe, theyhave wilfully denied the problem.By removing the threat of methanemigration the PCF project is potentiallybeneficial for the community. The netresult though, would sustain the life ofthe dump by making it more financiallyviable and renewing DSW’s argumentagainst calls for closure from localresidents. As methane continues to beproduced from dumpsites for up to 20years afterdumping hasceased, theproject would bemore beneficialfor the communityif it were carriedout as part of aclosure plan.Doing it in thisway would still fitin with the aims ofthe PCF. DSWstates that thedump will remain open until 2012-15. 10However it is in the financial interestsof PCF that the dump stay open aslong as possible to recoup itsinvestment and be able to generatethe maximum amount of emissionsreductions credits, from which itprofits, by selling to countries overtheir quota.The suffering of residents next to thelandfill site is continued in the name of‘sustainable’ development. The creditsgenerated from their misfortune areused to make it possible for richcountries with unsustainableconsumption patterns to continue asbefore instead of reducing theirconsumption in order to truly bringdown greenhouse gas emissions.The Bisasar landfill gas extractionproject exposes the underlyingproblems with defining ‘renewable’“To gain the ER credits they willkeep this site open as long aspossible. To them how muchmoney they can get out of this ismore important than what effect ithas on our lives.”— Sajida Khan, Local residentaffected by emissions credit project,Clare Estate, Durban, South Africaenergy in such broad terms. What thismeans on the ground is thatunsustainable practices that negativelyimpact on local people’s lives canbecome ‘sustainable’, therebyundermining people’s struggles.Ironically, climate change mitigation,using emissions trading as a tool, hasmerely reinforced an environmentallydestructive practice, which is harmingpeople. The Bisasar Road project ispowerful evidence that profit-drivenemissions trading schemes and theprotection of people and planet areirreconcilable.8
1.2 Greenwashing privatisationin UgandaThe Prototype Carbon Fund (see “Keyplayers” and “Kyoto and the WorldBank”) has initiated a hydropowerproject in the area of the Uganda WestNile. This project consists of:• Construction of two medium-sizedrun-of-river hydropower plants anddiesel backup generators;• Development of an isolated minigridfor regional electricitytransmission and distribution; and• Replacement of Uganda ElectricityBoard’s (UEB) diesel capacity andprivately owned small diesel enginesand generator sets.These run-of-river plants will be a 5.1MW hydropower plant at the Nyagaksite in Nebbi District. Two years later,a 1.5 MW plant will be constructed inOlewa, Arua District. 1 These are notlarge hydropower projects, such as thecontroversial Bujugali 250 MW dam.Deflecting criticismHowever, the International RiversNetwork, an NGO supporting localcommunities working to protect theirrivers and watersheds, has roundlycriticised the project. They questionthe absence of an EnvironmentalImpact Assessment (EIA) and inparticular the effects of the project onfish and other aquatic life, land usechange and sediment transport. 2According to World Bank OperationalDirectives every project has tocomplete an EIA. However, the PCFinformed IRN that compliance withnormal World Bank rules andprocedures is not required of CleanDevelopment Mechanism projects.Besides that, CDM requires only thehost country to confirm that an EIA hasbeen undertaken in accordance withits own requirements. Furthermore, theEIA is not subject to stakeholdercomments and the validation process. 3Even though PCF claims not to besubject to World Bank rules in itsresponse to IRN, on its website itstates that: “The [World] Bank Grouphas a body of well-developed,mandatory safeguard policies whichapply to all World Bank operations.These are applied to PCF operationsto ensure that they areenvironmentally and socially sound…” 4There seems to be a fundamentalcontradiction in what the PCF says tocritical groups and the rules it has setitself and then fails to put into practice.However one of the basic criteria ofClean Development Mechanism ruleshas already been violated by theproject. Under CDM rules, plannershave to prove that the project wouldnot have taken place anyway. Thetechnical word for this is ‘additionality’.However, the PCF says that it isimpossible to say that the projectwould have happened without theCDM/carbon finance. 5The Uganda Electricity Board (UEB),has been reformed and is slowly beingprivatised. It has been “unbundled”into four units:a. The Uganda Electricity GenerationCompany Limited (UEGCL)b. The Uganda ElectricityTransmissionCompany Limited (UETCL)c. The Uganda Electricity DistributionCompany Limited (UEDCL)d. The Uganda Electricity Board(remnant).On the 22th of July 2002, “Eskomemerged the sole bidder for thegeneration concession (UEGC) andthen teamed up with the UK-basedCDC Globoleq to form a consortium tobid for the distribution company(UEDC). Eskom’s takeover of UgandaElectricity Generation Company(UEGC) is now almost certain afterMinistry of Finance officials describedits bid for the 20-year concession as‘competitive enough’.” 6 [see box Page9]9
Page 1 and 2: Carbon Trade WatchBriefing No.1The
Page 4 and 5: 1. What is emissions trading?Pollut
Page 6 and 7: the scheme that were not abandoneda
Page 10 and 11: PCF promoting privatisationThe PCF
Page 12 and 13: 2. The Origins of Emissions Trading
Page 14 and 15: 2.3 Corporations at the EarthSummit
Page 16 and 17: 2.4 Corporate ‘good guys’?The t
Page 18 and 19: 2.6 Sinking the ProtocolBonn 2001:
Page 20 and 21: 3. Trading Rules3.1 The Kyoto Tradi
Page 22 and 23: 3.2 Renewables under SiegeEmissions
Page 24 and 25: The solution, as proposed by indust
Page 26 and 27: “In the context of the KyotoProto
Page 28 and 29: ‘renewable’ projects.7 Although
Page 30 and 31: ased on the “successful” PCF mo
Page 32 and 33: • internal transfers of credits b
Page 34 and 35: 5.4 Think TanksPoint Carbon: Set up
Page 36 and 37: 5.6 Private Sector TradingInitiativ
Page 38 and 39: However, over the years,Greenpeace
Page 40 and 41: market rhetoric begins to clear.Emi
Page 42 and 43: Notes & ReferencesIntroduction:1. S
Page 44 and 45: 6. http://www.ich.no/kurs/he2002/ug
Page 46 and 47: 2. “Bush energy plan - policy or
Page 48 and 49: 4. The Dutch Government’s CDM pro
Page 50 and 51: 3. Competitive Enterprise Institute
Page 52 and 53: http://partners.wri.org/contrib_fin

The Sky is Not the Limit: - Carbon Trade Watch

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