[Pen-l] More "Cap and Evade"

[Eugene Coyle]

The Wall Street Journal (7/23/08) has another Page 1 story on the UN program to cap emissions in the rich countries by buying credits from "less developed" nations.  It begins: PAGE ONE DOW JONES REPRINTS This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit: www.djreprints.com. • See a sample reprint in PDF format. • Order a reprint of this article now. French Firm Cashes In  Under U.N. Warming Program By CHARLES FORELLE July 23, 2008; Page A1 ONSAN, South Korea -- A French chemical maker is reaping a potential billion-dollar windfall under a United Nations program intended to spur climate-friendly investment in the developing world, highlighting the challenges of using market forces to tackle global warming. The company, Rhodia SA, manufactures hundreds of tons a day of adipic acid, an ingredient in nylon, at its factory here. But the real money is in what it doesn't make. The payday, which could amount to more than $1 billion over seven years, comes from destroying nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, an unwanted byproduct and potent greenhouse gas. It's Rhodia's single most profitable business world-wide. Last year, destroying nitrous oxide here and at a similar plant in Brazil generated €189 million ($300.5 million) in sales of pollution "credits." <snip> The investment in the Korean plant will cost about $15 million with, the story says, a payday that could come to over a billion in seven years. Gene Coyle

_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l