EU: Carbon reform is no threat to China

Release Date: 2009-07-15

A proposed new scheme will “scale up” the volume of carbon credits and still benefit China, an EU official says.

A new global carbon offsetting regime aimed at eliminating low-quality carbon offsets will help China rather than hinder it, a policy official with the European Commission said.

China has complained it will lose out if EU proposals to tighten a UN-run offsetting regime were to be implemented.

A new system will, however, “scale up” the volume of carbon credits and still benefit China, said Jurgen Lefevere, European Commission policy coordinator for climate change negotiations.

“There will be a continuing and even a strengthened role for China to play in the global carbon market and added benefits to the situation we are in at the moment,” he told Reuters.

China has been among the most active countries to use the so-called “clean development mechanism” (CDM), generating 60 percent of all UN-backed offsets produced through the carbon credit scheme.

The EU has criticized the system, arguing that is has thrived on easy but environmentally dubious projects such as industrial gas abatement.

Type:	NORMAL
Url:	http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=1714