This UN Expert Group is Locking in an Expensive, Slow, Unjust Climate Transition (3)

Opinion by Mathew Carr

Nov. 9-28, 2022 — Here’s why this UN expert group of corporate-climate action and carbon-credit types needs to change its recommendations.

www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/high-level_expert_group_n7b.pdf

See these recommendations:

By disallowing carbon credits for use to comply with 2025 2030 2035 etc corporate targets (interim ones), this expert group is forcing business to pay more than it needs to.

Further, the transition will be slower because companies will be wasting money on expensive emission cuts when the same amount of money would cut MORE emissions if deployed into projects that reduce GHG in a cheaper way.

And the speed of emission cuts is crucial, because the world has left it so late.

Further, requiring GHG cuts in rich countries will fail to repair the related climate-injustice crisis, because emerging countries will continue to get less of the money needed for climate action.

The experts need to rewrite their rules.

Note this column below in the Financial Times on Nov. 28, where the author seems puzzled why corporations are “green hushing.”

The reason is actually crystal clear.

Green hushing is a direct response to unfair criticism of carbon credits.

And now UN “experts” are at it (making unfair criticism), encouraging the climate-policy stagnation to be worse, just at a time when it needs to be made better.

See also criticism of the Science Based Targets Initiative, here:

And see this recast:

(Smooths language Nov. 28, adds FT)

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