What more evidence does the World Bank need that carbon markets are not working?

Rachel Kyte is Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank. Her solution to climate change? Carbon markets. No surprises there, then.

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Matthew Ames, director of carbon credits company Forestry for Life, charged with £1.2 million fraud

Forestry for Life was a forest carbon trading company set up in 2009 with the aim of raising US$5 billion by 2013. The plan failed dramatically, and this year the company’s founder and director, Matthew Ames, appeared at the Old Bailey, charged with fraud.

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Debate: Should California cap and trade use forestry offsets?

The debate about whether California should allow REDD carbon offsets in its cap and trade scheme (AB 32) continues. Over the weekend, the Sacramento Bee published two opinion pieces, one opposing REDD credits and one in favour.

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Response from Advanced Global Trading: “We can only hope that you amend the title and the last paragraph of your article”

Recently, REDD-Monitor wrote about a company called Advanced Global Trading that sells voluntary carbon credits to the public as an investment.

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Hildon Green Energy Markets: Another carbon credit boiler room scam bites the dust

On 16 May 2013, the Insolvency Service announced that Hildon Green Energy Markets Ltd had been wound up after an Insolvency Service investigation. The Insolvency Service reports that the company “marketed near worthless carbon credits to the public for investment”, by “promising vastly exaggerated returns”.

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Why doesn’t VCS warn against buying carbon credits as an investment?

There are many reasons not to buy voluntary carbon credits as an investment. The price is likely to fall over time. There is no secondary market. And you’re more than likely to be ripped off when you buy carbon credits.

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REDD in the news: 13-19 May 2013

A round up of the week’s news on REDD, in chronological order with short extracts (click on the title for the full article). REDD-Monitor’s news page is updated regularly. For past REDD in the news posts, click here.

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Indonesia’s Constitutional Court returns customary forests to indigenous peoples

Yesterday, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that indigenous peoples’ customary forests should not be classed as “State Forest Areas”. This is a landmark ruling and an important step for the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in Indonesia.

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Unanswered questions about Bai Shan Lin’s big plans for Guyana

Bai Shan Lin, a Chinese logging company, has big plans for Guyana: forest concessions covering 960,000 hectares; a 20-kilometre river gold mining concession; a 500-hectare Guyana-China Timber Industry Economic and Trading Cooperation Park and a 160-hectare real estate development.

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MH Carbon in liquidation: What to do if you bought carbon credits from MH Carbon

MH Carbon was established in September 2010 and went into voluntary liquidation in May 2013. During this period, the company sold carbon credits to more than 5,000 people, at a total cost of £18.7 million.

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Indonesia’s President extends forest moratorium for two more years

Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has extended the moratorium on new forest concessions for a further two years. Despite the flaws in the moratorium an extension is better than a return to business as usual. But the President has missed out on a chance to strengthen the moratorium.

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Can REDD stop the land grabbing crisis in Laos and Cambodia?

This week, Global Witness released a new report investigating a land grabbing crisis in Laos and Cambodia. The report looks at two Vietnamese “rubber baron” companies, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and the Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG). Global Witness found that these companies “have leased vast tracts of land for plantations in Laos and Cambodia, with disastrous consequences for local communities and the environment”.

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Memo to WWF: Destroying rainforests and peatland for palm oil is not “sustainable”

WWF loves “sustainability”. With “sustainability”, there’s no need to address over-consumption, or the never-ending growth of capitalist expansion. Consumption can increase, as long as it’s “sustainable”.

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Tell Indonesia’s President Yudhoyono to stop Aceh’s “plan to kill orangutans”

Avaaz has launched a petition to stop Aceh’s proposed spatial plan, which would involve the conversion of 1.2 million hectares of forest, “into plantation and mining areas and other purposes”.

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MH Carbon goes into voluntary liquidation

In January 2013, REDD-Monitor wrote about MH Carbon, a company selling carbon credits to the public as investments. REDD-Monitor’s question, as with any company doing this, is whether the company is a boiler room scam. Last week, MH Carbon went into voluntary liquidation.

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