| Sourced From |
Reporting from Cancun, Mexico — The Mexican state of Chiapas, home to the left-wing Zapatista revolt of the mid-1990s, is now eager to join a most capitalist enterprise: California’s upcoming cap-and-trade market for carbon emissions.
Chiapas Gov. Juan Antonio Sabines Guerrero and California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Linda Adams are making the rounds of the global climate talks in Cancun, touting a deal: California companies will pay Chiapas to protect its rainforest.
“California has opened its international market for carbon credits,” Sabines said at a meeting of 700 forest advocates Wednesday, adding that Chiapas has the “best inventory of soil, forest and jungle” in Mexico. He estimated that Chiapas could sell credits of as much as 2 million metric tons into the California market over eight years.
Under California’s cap-and-trade program, expected to be approved by the state’s Air Resources Board next week, industries such as power plants and refineries could pay Chiapas to help save its rainforest in exchange for offsetting some of their own emissions in California. The amount of carbon in the forests that Chiapas saves from being burned or logged would have to be verified by international auditors. California companies could then use the credits to offset up to 2% of their emissions.
Market prices are highly uncertain, but if carbon credits sell at $20 a ton, that could mean as much as $40 million to help Chiapas save its forests. The cutting and burning of tropical forests worldwide, including the cloud forests in southern Mexico, accounts for as much as 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere. Rising temperatures worldwide are leading to melting glaciers, rising sea levels and stronger storms, according to scientific studies.
More than 190 nations gathered in Cancun this week are struggling to craft a treaty that would reduce carbon emissions; an agreement to reduce deforestation is also on the agenda. With the failure of the U.S. Congress to pass cap-and-trade legislation, some developing nations are looking to California for funds to help their forest-dwellers develop other sources of fuel and income.