"The most interesting thing about Pope Francis’s 184-page encyclical on climate change released Thursday is its unequivocal and accurate condemnation of the modern day snake oil known as “carbon credits.” Indeed, self-described “green” politicians praising the Pope’s words, might first want to read what he actually said.
Specifically, in section 171, that: “The strategy of buying and selling ‘carbon credits’ can lead to a new form of speculation which would not help reduce the emission of polluting gases worldwide. This system seems to provide a quick and easy solution under the guise of a certain commitment to the environment, but in no way does it allow for the radical change which present circumstances require. Rather, it may simply become a ploy which permits maintaining the excessive consumption of some countries and sectors.” That’s exactly what carbon credits do.
In a Canadian context, Pope Francis’s encyclical criticizes the Stephen Harper government’s recent musings it might buy international carbon credits to meet the Conservatives’ latest (unattainable) goal of reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 2005 levels by 2030.
It also condemns the global warming agendas of NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, all of whom want to impose cap-and-trade on the public, which is built on the trading of carbon credits.
In fact, cap-and-trade is the preferred method of introducing carbon pricing by most politicians globally because they don’t have to say the world “tax” — as in carbon tax — the other method of carbon pricing.
But cap-and-trade is simply a carbon tax by another name. Politicians falsely portray it as a “market-based” solution to reducing emissions when it is nothing of the sort.
Cap-and-trade, through the buying and selling of carbon credits — each one giving the bearer the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide or its equivalent — is crony capitalism masquerading as environmentalism.
It does nothing to lower emissions and is an open invitation to fraud, political corruption and organized crime.
That’s why the earliest, most enthusiastic supporters of carbon trading in North America were the energy fraudsters at Enron. It’s why the world’s largest cap-and-trade market — Europe’s decade-old Emissions Trading Scheme — has been overrun by fraud and organized crime.
In cap-and-trade, governments make their money by auctioning off a gradually declining number of carbon credits to major industrial emitters every year, who then buy and sell them among themselves, while passing along their added costs to consumers in the price of most goods and services.
Cap-and-trade is an invitation to political corruption because politicians and political parties receive major campaign donations from large emitters as they lobby them either for exemptions from being included in cap-and-trade, or for free carbon credits if they are.
Major emitters like cap-and-trade because they can pass along their added costs (and then some) directly to consumers and because — as happened in Europe — they can raise their prices as if they paid for carbon credits, even when they received them for free.
Organized crime likes cap-and-trade because of its opportunities for fraud — tax fraud and the issuance of fraudulent credits for which there is no actual lowering of emissions.
This happens because the carbon credit system is only as strong as its weakest link, meaning countries where bribing government officials is commonplace to get them to approve counterfeit carbon credits.
The irony of Pope Francis’s encyclical is that while it regards man-made climate change as a serious problem requiring a global solution, it also accurately rejects the main method the world’s politicians have proposed for fighting it.
Gee. We can’t trust politicians. Who knew?" via Hockey Schtick
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