CARBON SCAM: New Greenpeace report…coal and oil companies are trying to use forest offset projects…

CARBON SCAM: New Greenpeace report exposes how coal and oil companies are trying to use forest offset projects to cheat the climate

October 15, 2009

The new http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/reports4/carbon-scam-noel-kempff-clima">Greenpeace report Carbon Scam investigates how American Electric Power, BP and Pacificorp invested in the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project (NKCAP) in Bolivia to try and avoid cleaning up their own act. The investigation shows how NKCAP sponsors overestimated pollution cuts from the project by 90 percent, how overall deforestation rates in Bolivia have actually increased since the project started, and how fundamental questions about the project remain unanswered.

"When Greenpeace says the only reason American Electric Power wants to do this is because it doesn't want to shut down its coal plants, my answer is, 'You bet...” AEP CEO Michael Morris

What is the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project?

In 1997, the three energy giants entered into an agreement with the Bolivian government. They invested millions of dollars to expand and protect forests near the Noel Kempff national park from the threat of deforestation for 30 years. In return, the companies created carbon credits which they could buy and sell on carbon markets to “offset” their climate pollution make a tidy profit. NKCAP has being widely showcased by polluters as a model project to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).

What is a «sub-national» REDD project?

…

There are real problems with the sub-national REDD offsets. First, is much more difficult to accurately measure the carbon in trees, plants, and soils of changing forests than measure the climate pollution from the smokestacks and tailpipes they are supposed to be swapped for. Another serious risk is “leakage”, where deforestation stopped in one area, simply move to another forest.

…