With the controversies surrounding the Office of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability (now Climate Change and Development Authority [CCDA]) and subsequent sidelining of the director Dr. Theo Yasause, new information is beginning to unfold as the Masalai Blog reports in July 2009.
The blog post with the title “Carbon Trading under More Scrutiny” attracted a massive 178 comments from PNG, Australia and the world over.
According to documents, the government has been pre-selling carbon credits for almost four years prior to 2009 without any proper legal policy documentation and framework in place.
Among the documents obtained was a certificate with serial numbers A1 to A33 and bearing the signature of former Minister for Trade and Industry, Paul Tiensten who signed on behalf of then Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare on the 26th of July, 2005 with Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd.
The certificate holds the common seal of Climate Assist (PNG) Ltd. It is understood the certificate in “A” Series specifies a monetary value of $20m with its maturity date set on the 1st January, 2008 but it is unclear whether actual monies have exchanged.
Former Prime Minister and the then Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta at the time in learning about this this commented “our carbon is being sold yet we don’t have legislations and policy in place.” “It is unbecoming of leaders travelling around the world selling behind our backs. This is a huge corruption.”
According to the Office of the Prime Minister there are also reports of carbon ‘conmen’ selling customary landowners permits to ‘bag’ carbon from the atmosphere to the Government carbon trading office.
It appears that publicity about these actions has been promoted by Governors in several provinces.
The reason for the Governors’ discontent is that there was no indication that revenue would accrue to them.
According to law, some export-orientated activities direct revenue to provincial administrations. The irregularities, snake-oil salesmen and administrative problems do not bode well for carbon trading in PNG.
According to one report, Macquarie Bank has already pulled out of any potential carbon trading in the country, citing a lack of market integrity as the main reason.
Development agencies have something to answer for here. The World Bank actively promoted the idea that carbon credits could be earned and traded in a global emissions trading scheme if deforestation was halted.
One World Bank report suggested that revenue from credits could greatly exceed revenue from forestry.
The Bank offered to provide seed finance for a fund to support development and trading of credits. A number of national aid agencies chipped in.
But it is abundantly clear that this clever financial engineering is too clever. The EU has said that it does not favour the sale of such large numbers of credits from developing countries into the EU trading scheme.
Greenpeace and WWF oppose creation of cheap credits like this, and it is now clear there will not be global agreement on an emissions trading scheme in the near future.
A reader on the Masalai blog comments, this just the tip of the iceberg. Australian company Carbon Planet has just completed a merger. CARBON Planet will merge with Melbourne-based telecommunications investor, m2m Corporation, in a deal expected to create a $117 million, stock market-listed carbon trading company.
In a presentation to m2m shareholders, Carbon Planet said it had 25 Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) projects in Papua New Guinea expected to generate $1 billion annually, with another eight REDD MOUs in Indonesia.
“These are firm contracts on paper,” Mr Johnson said. The company said it had only two projects in PNG less than a month ago.
m2m, incorporating Carbon Planet, will be the first Australian-listed entity providing full services in carbon trading activities, the companies said yesterday.
25 REDD contracts Already signed in PNG with a value of $1 billion annually!!!
Someone is lying here – either Carbon Planet (unlikely as they have to answer to ASIC), or the PNG Government, according to Adelaide Advertiser news.
Another avid reader on the blog argues, foreigners and their Papua New Guinean cohorts have enriched themselves enough using PNG’s resources.
Both parties are telling lies. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there is currently NO law as yet to sanction the roll out of the whole REDD thing at a global level. So where does ASIC get its legal basis to recognize and validate Carbon Planet’s assertions?
This scheme unfortunately appears to be one trick too many for these raskols. I hope the Carbon Planet people with their PNG cohorts are arrested and charged for operating a scam.
A next reader also commented saying Ilya has more info about how Carbon Planet got’s its claws into this market and arranged a monopoly deal.
Check Cockfighting Carbon Trading Australian Horse Trainer in PNG
at http://aappng.blogspot.com/
Sounds like Ilya is being forced out for telling the truth? Wherever there is a buck to be made in PNG the rogues and scoundrels drop in like flies to suck up whatever they can. How do the local people benefit? It’s happened time and time again.
What gets me mad is that this is fools money. Western companies that produce carbon pollution can buy credits in other countries- basically bribes to stop them cutting down forests, so that they can “offset” this against their carbon emissions – that means they can just carry on producing as much carbon pollution as they want without a hefty tax burden.
It doesn’t reduce carbon emissions as there is no way of knowing whether the forests would have been cut down or not. So it’s a gigantic carbon tax avoidance scheme by western industry.
Of course now the middle men and rogues have jumped in for a piece of the action, obviously involving kick-backs and bribes to PNG officials.
If there is to be a carbon offset scheme, shouldn’t it be directly with the people that OWN the forests concerned?
Why should ‘brokers’ or Governments get the money?
Plus it needs a proper regulatory and governance structure to make sure it is all above board – which isn’t in place yet ANYWHERE in the world, let alone PNG! Makes me sick to the stomach. – Via Garamut News.
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