Final Conclusions working group 15:

Dangers of the Carbon Market

April 29, 2010 in 15. Dangers of Carbon Market, Working Groups

1. The absolute failure of carbon market is undeniable as greenhouse gases emissions

(GHG) have increased by 11.2% [1] within developed countries from 1990 to 2007;
therefore it has failed in the compliance of its main objective.
2. In 2008 GHG emission rights were assigned for a quantity four times bigger than the
emissions of 1990. In the same period, total transactions of carbon credit reached 126.346
million dollars from which 73% corresponded to emission allowances [2], amount that
benefited intermidiateries.
3. Carbon market encourages developed countries to avoid their responsibilities. Thus, it
hinders the reduction of their own domestic emissions, transferring their responsibilities
towards developing countries.
4. Carbon market has transformed GHG reductions into a lucrative business, commodifying
our Mother Earth. It does not represent ethically any alternative to confront climate
change, since it plunders and devastates the earth, water and even life itself.
5. The recent financial crisis has shown that the market is unable to regulate the financial
system which is fragile and insecure due to speculation and the raise of intermidiateries;
therefore it would be totally irresponsible to leave the very existence of humanity and our
Mother Earth under their care and protection.
6.  We reject the land use change that implies the exclusion of existing ecosystems in order
to transform them into large scale plantations of quick-growing exotic species as the
eucalyptus. Thus, soils will not act as carbon sinks and are at risk of becoming carbon
source, further contributing to the greenhouse effect.
7. We condemn the use of excessive emission limits, “hot air”, assigned to the Transition
Economies (former Soviet Union) for the compliance of developed countries
commitments.
8. We demand that the preservation of ecological centers that help to the control and capture
of emissions deserves indemnification from developed countries outside the carbon
market. These resources have to be submitted to the sovereignty of people and national
states, and not through the carbon market. 
9. We reject false solutions promoted by the carbon market as: CDM, tree plantations,
monocultures, transgenic crops, mega-mining, geo-engineering, mega-infrastructure
projects (IIRSA) or plans for capture and storage of CO2 and nuclear energy.
10. It is unacceptable that current negotiations pretend the creation of new mechanisms to
expand and promote carbon market, once all existing mechanisms never solved the
problem of climate change or were transformed into real action and direct GHG
reduction.
11. We strongly condemn the carbon market and we oppose any attempt to expand and create
new mechanisms such as those established in the Copenhaguen Agreement.

“Life of humanity and Mother Earth is not bought or sold, it is recovered and defended”         
We urge and call upo all human being to join and take action to defend life and the survival of
Mother Earth.

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1. Informe Convención Marco sobre el cambio climático CMCC (21 Oct 2009).
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/sbi/spa/12s.pdf
2. Report: State and Trends of the carbon markets 2009, World Bank 
http://wbcarbonfinance.org/docs/State___Trends_of_the_Carbon_Market_2009-
FINAL_26_May09.pdf
3. Geoengineering (the deliberate, large-scale manipulation of planetary systems such as
those related to the stratosphere or the ocean) to delay or reduce climate change, is the
most dangerous attempt to use untried technologies to profit from carbon trading. Even
more alarming, some industrialized countries and corporations are pretending that
geoengineering is a planetary techno-fix that will allow the rich to continue to plunder
Mother Earth without restraint.  Geoengineering must be rejected.