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Today Greenpeace issues a report critical of carbon offsets from forest preservation. In the late 1990s a group of environmentalists and polluters started the first widespread experiment to control Climate Change through forest preservation. The Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project did save the biologically plentiful region of 6,000 square miles from logging. Yet it has failed to reach its carbon reduction target.
Greenpeace’s new study raises doubts about forest conservation in foreign countries to offset U.S. domestic carbon pollution. The Greenpeace report says Noel Kempff’s target was 55 million metric tons (2,000 pounds per ton) of carbon pollution prevention across 30 years.
Greenpeace says after studying the 10 plus years of data on Noel Kempff the likely estimate of carbon pollution prevention is 5.8 million tons. The Greenpeace report notes the 3 corporate sponsors, American Electric Power, BP America and PacifiCorp overestimated the environmental benefit of the project.
Meanwhile, Norway is pledging $1 billion from now through 2015 to preserve Brazilian tropical rain forests. The U.S. House passed Climate Change control Waxman-Markey bill sets aside 5% of money from the sale of carbon allowances or credits to preserve forests in other nations. The Senate Boxer-Kerry Climate Change control bill also includes set asides for foreign forest conservation.
PacifiCorp’s Kyle Davis, Director of Environmental Policy and Strategy, says the bills on the Hill will not make it possible for industries to obtain the 2 billion tons of offsets they require.
Ned Helme, President of the Clean Air Policy Center, says the U.S. and international governments must work out the way forth to conserve tropical rain forests as a key to U.S. and international Climate Change control programs. “In terms of selling the deal, this is an important part of the deal, because so many countries benefit,” Helme says. “We have to make sure we’re not overselling the promise.”
