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Unregulated Carbon Credit Markets Threaten Local Sustainability Projects Worldwide
Bali, Indonesia - Yuyun Ismawati recently won the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize,
known as the "Green Nobel", for her waste to wealth approach to
cleaning up municipal waste in Bali, Indonesia. She developed a
community based waste management system, providing employment to former
rag and scrap collectors in recycling and composting efforts.
Jul 24, 2009
Bali, Indonesia - Yuyun Ismawati recently won the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize,
known as the "Green Nobel", for her waste to wealth approach to
cleaning up municipal waste in Bali, Indonesia. She developed a
community based waste management system, providing employment to former
rag and scrap collectors in recycling and composting efforts. She is
providing jobs and income by diverting waste from municipal landfills,
but the greatest threat to her project isn't local officials, but
short-sighted global environmental policy.
The Clean Development Mechanism, a product of the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol, is intended to fund projects in the developing world to
reduce carbon emissions, offsetting the emissions of industry in the
developed world. However, poor design and loopholes have plagued the
Clean Development Mechanism and are threatening local sustainability
projects, including BaliFokus, Ismawati's nonprofit.
Ismawati's community-based sanitation project diverts the 70% of
municipal waste that is recyclable or compostable, processing it and
selling it to companies or farmers. Despite this successful model, she
is facing new threats from carbon credit financed projects. Ismawati
that "We have many cities in Indonesia now, they have proposals from
investors and buyers regarding the carbon credits, or CDM in the
landfill, which will require more garbage bringing to the landfill so
they can capture the methane and sell the carbon [credits] to the
buyers."
One such proposal, in Bali, the Gasification, Landfill Gas, and
Anaerobic Digestion (GALFAD) project would divert community waste from
her project to a landfill, intentionally increasing the production of
methane, a greenhouse gas over twenty times stronger than the carbon
dioxide emitted by composted waste. The landfill gas project would burn
the methane to power an electrical generator, yet such projects rarely
capture more than 20% of the methane and carbon dioxide mixture
emitted, meaning the GALFAD project would increase greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 800%, while eliminating an award-winning local
environmental project providing jobs, environmental benefits, and a
model to the Indonesian government.
The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, reported that
"[Ismawati's] case is typicalof the CDM's interventions in the
municipal waste sector; its carbon credits have gone almost exclusively
to incineration and landfill gas projects". As all CDM projects are
registered online, a quick perusal
shows that the project would receive 15,784, 238 euros in carbon
credits, providing almost three-quarters of the 21,306,891 euro profit
from the project. The GALFAD project did not respond to requests for
comment.
"Most local governments now are more interested in supporting the
carbon credit projects, instead of local grassroots and people powered
or people centered activities", Ismawati told writers and bloggers in
an audio interview, highlighting the contradiction between global
climate policy and local environmental action.
As governments and advocates prepare for the Copenhagen climate
talks in December 2009, carbon markets remain a central mechanism to
combat global warming. Nevertheless, evidence is growing that without
regulation and reform, carbon trading between developed and developing
countries may harm local sustainability efforts worldwide.
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Bali, Indonesia - Yuyun Ismawati recently won the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize,
known as the "Green Nobel", for her waste to wealth approach to
cleaning up municipal waste in Bali, Indonesia. She developed a
community based waste management system, providing employment to former
rag and scrap collectors in recycling and composting efforts. She is
providing jobs and income by diverting waste from municipal landfills,
but the greatest threat to her project isn't local officials, but
short-sighted global environmental policy.
The Clean Development Mechanism, a product of the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol, is intended to fund projects in the developing world to
reduce carbon emissions, offsetting the emissions of industry in the
developed world. However, poor design and loopholes have plagued the
Clean Development Mechanism and are threatening local sustainability
projects, including BaliFokus, Ismawati's nonprofit.
Ismawati's community-based sanitation project diverts the 70% of
municipal waste that is recyclable or compostable, processing it and
selling it to companies or farmers. Despite this successful model, she
is facing new threats from carbon credit financed projects. Ismawati
that "We have many cities in Indonesia now, they have proposals from
investors and buyers regarding the carbon credits, or CDM in the
landfill, which will require more garbage bringing to the landfill so
they can capture the methane and sell the carbon [credits] to the
buyers."
One such proposal, in Bali, the Gasification, Landfill Gas, and
Anaerobic Digestion (GALFAD) project would divert community waste from
her project to a landfill, intentionally increasing the production of
methane, a greenhouse gas over twenty times stronger than the carbon
dioxide emitted by composted waste. The landfill gas project would burn
the methane to power an electrical generator, yet such projects rarely
capture more than 20% of the methane and carbon dioxide mixture
emitted, meaning the GALFAD project would increase greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 800%, while eliminating an award-winning local
environmental project providing jobs, environmental benefits, and a
model to the Indonesian government.
The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, reported that
"[Ismawati's] case is typicalof the CDM's interventions in the
municipal waste sector; its carbon credits have gone almost exclusively
to incineration and landfill gas projects". As all CDM projects are
registered online, a quick perusal
shows that the project would receive 15,784, 238 euros in carbon
credits, providing almost three-quarters of the 21,306,891 euro profit
from the project. The GALFAD project did not respond to requests for
comment.
"Most local governments now are more interested in supporting the
carbon credit projects, instead of local grassroots and people powered
or people centered activities", Ismawati told writers and bloggers in
an audio interview, highlighting the contradiction between global
climate policy and local environmental action.
As governments and advocates prepare for the Copenhagen climate
talks in December 2009, carbon markets remain a central mechanism to
combat global warming. Nevertheless, evidence is growing that without
regulation and reform, carbon trading between developed and developing
countries may harm local sustainability efforts worldwide.
Bali, Indonesia - Yuyun Ismawati recently won the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize,
known as the "Green Nobel", for her waste to wealth approach to
cleaning up municipal waste in Bali, Indonesia. She developed a
community based waste management system, providing employment to former
rag and scrap collectors in recycling and composting efforts. She is
providing jobs and income by diverting waste from municipal landfills,
but the greatest threat to her project isn't local officials, but
short-sighted global environmental policy.
The Clean Development Mechanism, a product of the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol, is intended to fund projects in the developing world to
reduce carbon emissions, offsetting the emissions of industry in the
developed world. However, poor design and loopholes have plagued the
Clean Development Mechanism and are threatening local sustainability
projects, including BaliFokus, Ismawati's nonprofit.
Ismawati's community-based sanitation project diverts the 70% of
municipal waste that is recyclable or compostable, processing it and
selling it to companies or farmers. Despite this successful model, she
is facing new threats from carbon credit financed projects. Ismawati
that "We have many cities in Indonesia now, they have proposals from
investors and buyers regarding the carbon credits, or CDM in the
landfill, which will require more garbage bringing to the landfill so
they can capture the methane and sell the carbon [credits] to the
buyers."
One such proposal, in Bali, the Gasification, Landfill Gas, and
Anaerobic Digestion (GALFAD) project would divert community waste from
her project to a landfill, intentionally increasing the production of
methane, a greenhouse gas over twenty times stronger than the carbon
dioxide emitted by composted waste. The landfill gas project would burn
the methane to power an electrical generator, yet such projects rarely
capture more than 20% of the methane and carbon dioxide mixture
emitted, meaning the GALFAD project would increase greenhouse gas
emissions by at least 800%, while eliminating an award-winning local
environmental project providing jobs, environmental benefits, and a
model to the Indonesian government.
The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, reported that
"[Ismawati's] case is typicalof the CDM's interventions in the
municipal waste sector; its carbon credits have gone almost exclusively
to incineration and landfill gas projects". As all CDM projects are
registered online, a quick perusal
shows that the project would receive 15,784, 238 euros in carbon
credits, providing almost three-quarters of the 21,306,891 euro profit
from the project. The GALFAD project did not respond to requests for
comment.
"Most local governments now are more interested in supporting the
carbon credit projects, instead of local grassroots and people powered
or people centered activities", Ismawati told writers and bloggers in
an audio interview, highlighting the contradiction between global
climate policy and local environmental action.
As governments and advocates prepare for the Copenhagen climate
talks in December 2009, carbon markets remain a central mechanism to
combat global warming. Nevertheless, evidence is growing that without
regulation and reform, carbon trading between developed and developing
countries may harm local sustainability efforts worldwide.
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