CLEARING THE AIR

The document critiques carbon trading as an unreliable mechanism that shifts the burden of mitigation to developing countries and benefits the Northern financial industry. It proposes a comprehensive package of alternatives: for mitigation, it suggests global feed-in tariffs for renewables, energy efficiency standards, sustainable small-scale agriculture, and the protection of Indigenous forest rights. For climate finance, it identifies a potential US$420 billion per year in new funding through a global Financial Transaction Tax, cracking down on tax evasion, redirecting fossil-fuel producer subsidies, issuing new Special Drawing Rights, and implementing carbon and energy taxes.

• Carbon trading is described as an unreliable and unproven tool that fails to drive emissions reductions at the necessary pace, as evidenced by the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).
• Carbon trading mechanisms, particularly offsetting, unfairly shift the responsibility for climate mitigation from developed to developing countries and may increase overall costs by delaying expensive but necessary economic adjustments.
• A global feed-in tariff programme, with an annual investment of US$100 billion over 15 years, could make renewable energy the default global choice by reducing technology costs to universally affordable levels.
• Global greenhouse gas emissions can be significantly reduced by expanding small-scale, sustainable agriculture, reducing the consumption of meat and dairy, and ending the use of agricultural land for agrofuels.
• To prevent 'carbon leakage' in industrial processes, the report advocates for international agreement on common standards for the best available technology and the relaxation of intellectual property rights.
• Deforestation, which accounts for up to 18% of carbon emissions, should be addressed by tackling demand for agrofuels and meat in consumer countries and protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
• A proposed global Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) on cross-border transactions could generate up to US$400 billion in annual government revenue, with US$100 billion specifically allocated for climate finance.
• Redirecting global fossil-fuel producer subsidies, estimated at US$700 billion per year (with US$67 billion from Annex I countries), could provide a significant source of climate finance without impacting ordinary people.
• New allocations of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the IMF, at approximately US$100 billion per year, could support developing countries without causing inflation.
• Tackling tax avoidance in Europe could recover between €236 billion and €266 billion (2-2.25% of GDP) based on 2009 figures.
• Combined finance solutions—including FTT, tax evasion crackdowns, SDRs, and carbon taxes—could provide at least US$420 billion per year in new and additional climate finance for developing countries.

APA

Clifton, S.-J. (2010). CLEARING THE AIR. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/clearing_air_summ.pdf

Chicago

Clifton, Sarah-Jayne. CLEARING THE AIR. Friends of the Earth International, 2010. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/clearing_air_summ.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Clifton |first1=Sarah-Jayne |title=CLEARING THE AIR |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=November 2010 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/clearing_air_summ.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clifton2010clearing, author = {Clifton, Sarah-Jayne}, title = {{CLEARING THE AIR}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2010}, month = nov, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/clearing_air_summ.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }