Emissions trading scam....

The whole system doesn't work....it actually makes things worse...

The global exchange system designed to cut greenhouse gases through traded carbon credits is being gatecrashed by hundreds of projects that will actually increase the net amount of carbon going into the atmosphere, a report published today finds.

As the latest UN conference on climate change opens in Bali, the report from International Rivers, an NGO based in California, warns of a surge in hydropower project developers seeking to use the UN's Clean Development Mechanism.

The mechanism, part of the Kyoto protocol, allows organisations in richer countries to emit extra greenhouse gases by paying for carbon credits to fund schemes in poorer countries that cut emissions.

The report, Failed Mechanism, claims that the majority of these hydro projects, in China, South America and Africa, are using "Alice in Wonderland" arguments to pretend they are cutting emissions.

The hydro firms can earn millions of dollars by selling fake carbon credits to companies and governments which can use them to justify an increase in emissions.

"Public and private money that should be supporting decarbonisation in developing countries is flowing into the coffers of hydropower developers with the only effect on emission levels being to increase them," says the report. "How wise is it for the main mechanism supporting climate change mitigation in developing countries to be standing on a foundation of lies?"