“Learn how to make money on the rapidly expanding green market. Be part of the solution and earn good money doing it ...”

“... As a green consultant you can start earning commission on these million dollar deals from the comfort of your home. With some reasonable effort you can make a residual of $3,000 to $9,000 per month.”

I found these rather opportunistic paid ads on the first Google page while sifting through the myriad of entries under ‘carbon trading’. Now that the loans trading scheme has gone belly-up, the whiz kids are looking for a new commodity. They reckon they’ve found one that’ll keep them in hair gel, hols and hummers for some time yet.

It’s called ‘cap-and-trade’ and it looks as if it’s going to follow on neatly from the current game of ‘cap-in-hand’. Here’s how it works:

The government sets the cap. That is, it sets a target for the total quantity of carbon emitted, and to start off, every business gets an emission allowance based on its current carbon output.
In theory then, the government is able to progressively reduce the cap. Businesses that exceed their allowance will be forced to buy credits from companies that have a surplus or from carbon sequestering, credit producing industries, either here or overseas.

In a perfect world it might work. In today’s topsy-turvy monetary pig’s breakfast though, a fatal flaw has appeared. The price of carbon is set by the same market forces that are showing every indication of being a spent force.

With the cost of creds low, it is cheaper to keep pumping out the crud than to invest in cleaner technology. It’s also a blow to industries trying to make a living out of selling carbon credits.
In Europe, carbon trading has been in operation for many years. Since late last year the price for carbon has halved. There are predictions that the scheme will collapse, nevertheless, traders reaped a handy $US90 billion in commissions last year.

For all of us who put the health of the environment ahead of monetary matters, it’s time to call carbon trading a dud. The health of the planet’s atmosphere is too important to be left to opportunistic traders and market machinations.

Have a look at the theory of carbon trading and you’ll find it’s all hot air and Claytons conservation. If we don’t stop coal-fired generators from spewing carbon into the air, how we do the books is of no value to anyone, either now or in the future. We have to stand up to these latter-day ‘cruddites’ who are delaying the introduction of new, clean technology.

I did find some good news on Google though. A US researcher estimates that if Americans walked for 30 minutes each day instead of driving, they would save 64 million tons of CO2 and lose 3 billion pounds of excess flab. A British researcher suggests that walking, rather than taking time, actually makes time. He claims that for every minute we spend walking, we get to live three minutes longer.

Would you credit that?