Page 34 - Carbon Frauds and Corruption

Corruption of Bribery

Chapter 6 : Corruption in the “Carbon World”

 Adaptation, meaning preparing responses to actual or imminent detrimental impacts of
climate change involving such things as protection of coastal zones, water resources,
agriculture, public health

Mitigation is essentially preventative and adaptation responsive. With the same bully‐boy tactics
that are evident in the corruption field, politicians try to impose remedial measures with a big
stick and taxes. The outcome is that commercial decisions can be perverted in pursuit of the
“noble cause”:

In July 2011, the Californian glamour solar panel and tube manufacturing company ‐ Solyndra ‐heavily promoted
by President Obama ‐ announced that it was going into liquidation thereby writing off $1.5 billion funded by
private investors including Richard Branson and a $535 million government loan.

Solyndra's collapse followed failures by a number of other American solar manufacturers, including one spun off
from Intel in 2008.

George Kaiser the Oklahoma billionaire who was a major contributor to President Obama's 2008 election
campaign was a significant shareholder in Solyndra, raising suspicions that the $535 million investment by the
Department of Energy may have been payback time. The House Energy and Commerce Committee ordered an
investigation describing the loan as being "suspect from day one" A report by the Government Accountability
Office stated that the Energy Department had used an "opaque process to select loan recipients…. And would not
or could not explain why some companies were given a quick green light for approval, while others waited years
for a response”

The above type of perversion is a big danger for companies engaged in the “Carbon World”.

4.2 Cap and Trade
A second leg to emissions reduction is what is referred to as “cap and trade” or “offsets”. These
are based on the principle that it is easier to reduce emissions in some parts of the world and in
some processes than in others. Thus countries and companies that are required by law to cut
back emissions on a specific trajectory, may comply by investing in reduction projects that
27
generate “carbon credits ” elsewhere and usually in Less Developed Countries. This, of course, is
not coincidental, but a covert addition to foreign aid: much of which is purloined by kleptocrats
(see page xx).

The offset process has been likened to claiming credit for losing weight by starving your mother‐in‐law.

The term “cap and trade” is derived from the fact that regulated organisations have a cap on
how much carbon dioxide they are authorised to emit but allowed to “trade” or purchase
“offsets” to help discharge their obligations. The most important “cap and trade” system
emerged from the Kyoto Protocol and is discussed in detail later.

27 Each one representing 1 tonne of carbon dioxide reduction

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