COTD: Cui Bono?

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Perhaps many of you know this, but it bears repeating. In addition to the onerous controls and cost burden that will fall onto industry in Western nations, there is also an enormous wealth transfer component going to “developing nations” from the West. The EU has allowed a portion of an emitter’s compliance burden to be met by “offsets” from other parts of the world. So if a refrigerant plant in China is closed, then the owner of that plant can sell credit for the foregone emissions to a European coal-fired electricity generator in order to help that company comply, for example. One might be surprised to find that Russia and the Ukraine are next after China on this list of countries with surplus credits to sell. As Europe has been going thru their first stage of Carbon regulation where credits sourced from these other countries count toward compliance, these three countries have been some of the biggest recipients of Carbon related funds from the EU.