Politicians are meant to be the masters of disguise, and some of their disguise attempts, while feeble, are passing muster. This article aims to reveal the wolf's teeth and claws underlying the sheepish disguise of carbon capture and storage under the clean development mechanism.
One of the most devilish wolves is set to be passed under the UNFCCC's clean development mechanism (CDM). The CDM is meant to be a mechanism through which more climate- and environmentally-friendly forms of development are encouraged through various different financial mechanisms, yet a proposed form of CDM, which could more accurately be described as a Climate Death Mechanism, is going through to the ministers for final approval today.
Having passed through informal consultation, the proposed CDM is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), a method of carbon sequestration whereby carbon emissions from fossil fuel industry are stored deep underground. This might seem like a novel bridging technology between clean and dirty technology, but don't let the wolf fool you, the devil is in the detail.
CCS under the CDM is in part meant to be a form of technology transfer from the developed world to the developing world in order to facilitate climate justice by making those who caused most of climate change help those who will be most affected by it develop in a more sustainable manner. Developed countries on their part will receive carbon credits for their "noble" efforts. Read the full report here.
Source: Alex Lenferna, allAFrica.com, Durban.
