Corruption has become a serious threat to the sustainability of climate control mechanisms, especially cap-and-trade systems, according to the latest bulletin from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).
Corruption limits the overall reliability and effectiveness of environmental programs, the bulletin read, as “actors prioritize private benefits at the expense of socially optimal outcomes.”
While high levels of corruption can be linked to increased deforestation, air pollution, reduced water access, and damage to biodiversity, emissions trade schemes such as cap-and-trade systems seem particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
Cap-and-trade systems are one proposed method to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Under such plans, limits, or caps, are placed on annual greenhouse emissions. Each entity, be it a nation or a company, is given an emission limit. If an entity goes over that limit, it must either buy carbon credits from others who have stayed below their limit, or pay a fine. In theory, this scheme rewards those who stay below the greenhouse gas emission limit. In practice, it is a system rife with corruption.
See full Article: https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-briefs/1915-unep-corruption-threatens-carbon-emission-trade
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