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1,195 results
Landfills and Incinerators in the CDM: Not Sustainable, Not Additional
The document contends that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) fails to ensure environmental integrity in the waste sector, creating perverse incentives that prioritize waste disposal over recycling and composting. It highlights the displacement of informal waste pickers, the issuance of carbon credits for 'business-as-usual' projects that lack additionality, and the failure of landfill gas capture systems to prevent significant methane leakage. Specific examples include the Timarpur-Okhla plant in Delhi, the Bisasar landfill in Durban, and incinerators in China.
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Document type: Statement
Tr-Ash Talk: The Coal Breath of Betrayal
The author criticizes a House amendment that exempts coal ash ponds and landfills from federal regulation, arguing it prioritizes the interests of the coal industry over public health and ignores the risks demonstrated by the 2008 Kingston, TN spill.
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Document type: Statement
Energy equity: can the UN Sustainable Energy for All initiative make a difference?
The Green Economy Coalition supports the UN's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative but argues it requires more ambition and a specific focus on energy equity. The authors contend that universal energy access is a prerequisite for achieving Millennium Development Goals, particularly in health and education. They advocate for a strategy that prioritises the poorest, measures success through development outcomes rather than infrastructure metrics, and promotes community-led stewardship of local resources. While acknowledging the role of the private sector, the document emphasizes that reaching the most impoverished will require significant public sector and NGO involvement, as 'base of the pyramid' business models often overlook the absolute poorest.
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Document type: Statement
Causes and Consequences: A Perspective from Portugal
The document challenges the narrative that Portugal's sovereign debt crisis was solely caused by national misgovernment, instead highlighting three structural weaknesses: low education levels, a low-value-added economic specialisation profile, and a peripheral geographic position. It argues that EU-level decisions—such as the process of nominal convergence and the management of the euro—exacerbated these issues. The author contends that the current adjustment program, focused on austerity and internal devaluation through wage cuts, is pro-cyclical and risks deepening the recession while undermining long-term competitiveness by cutting investments in education and infrastructure.
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Document type: Research paper
Combattre Monsanto
The report details a global movement of peasants and civil society organizations resisting Monsanto's influence on agriculture. It highlights specific battles in Europe, India, Latin America, and Africa, where activists fight against GMO seeds, toxic pesticides like Roundup, and the corporate control of seed systems. The document argues that the 'green economy' and 'climate-smart agriculture' are market-driven frameworks that facilitate corporate land grabbing and the spread of biotechnology. It advocates for food sovereignty—the right of peoples to define their own food and production systems—as a sustainable path to mitigate climate change and ensure food security.
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Document type: Report
Carbon trading in Africa Brief
The document critiques the application of carbon trading in Africa, asserting that the continent remains marginal to the global market. It highlights how the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) creates perverse incentives, such as rewarding illegal gas flaring in Nigeria or subsidising fossil fuel dependence, while providing minimal financial benefit to local communities. The author argues that carbon offsets act as an 'avoided responsibility mechanism' for the global North and recommends shifting toward more just forms of climate finance.
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Document type: Briefing
DRAFT AMENDMENT TO THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT: AIR QUALITY ACT, 2004’S LIST OF ACTIVITIES WHICH RESULT IN ATMOSPHERIC EMISSIONS WHICH HAVE OR MAY HAVE A SIGNFICANT DETRIMENTAL EFFECT ON THE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING HEALTH, SOCIAL CONDITIONS, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, ECOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OR CULTURAL HERITAGE
The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), acting for groundWork and the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), submitted a statement to the Department of Environmental Affairs on 31 January 2012. The document objects to proposed amendments to the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004’s list of activities resulting in atmospheric emissions, arguing that the changes generally relax emission limits, extend compliance time-frames, and were developed through a non-transparent process that favored industry representatives over affected communities.
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Document type: Statement
carbonmarketwatch-ji-sverdlovsk-8be8af579199c02d.pdf
Carbon Market Watch challenges the validity of a JI project in Ukraine's Sverdlovsk district, arguing that the project's claim of additionality is not credible because it was operational for 4.5 years before the Letter of Approval was issued. The organization also contends that emission reductions are likely exaggerated due to a lack of supporting coal production data and flawed baseline assumptions regarding the spontaneous burning of waste heaps. Additionally, the document criticizes the project's physical boundaries for being insufficiently defined, noting that the project allows for the addition of new waste heaps and complexes during the monitoring period.
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Document type: Statement
Unsolicited letter regarding the registration of the Bujagali Hydropower Project
Carbon Market Watch and partner organizations challenge the registration of the Bujagali Hydropower Project under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). They argue the project is non-additional because it was already completed and deemed the 'least-cost' power option regardless of carbon credit income. The letter also highlights environmental damage to Lake Victoria and the displacement of approximately 6,800 people.
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Document type: Statement
Methane from Oil and Gas: Low-hanging Fruit that EPA Must Pick
The Clean Air Task Force criticizes a proposed EPA update to air emissions limits for the oil and natural gas industry, stating that while the rules make progress, they fail to directly regulate methane. The author asserts that the industry is the largest man-made source of methane in the US and that cost-effective measures to stop leaks and dumping could provide climate benefits equivalent to retiring hundreds of coal-fired generators while saving the industry over $30 million annually.
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Document type: Statement
Comments on this important Clean Air Act rulemaking to revise EPA’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for the oil and gas industry
A coalition of environmental organizations argues that the EPA's proposed rules for the oil and gas industry are insufficient. They demand the direct regulation of methane, the inclusion of existing sources, the elimination of exemptions for certain wells, and the regulation of hydrogen sulfide and particulate matter. The coalition also calls for more stringent toxic air pollutant limits and a more comprehensive health risk assessment for vulnerable populations.
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Document type: Statement
Tr-Ash Talk: Calling On All Skeptics
The document criticizes the GOP-controlled House and Senate legislation S. 1751 for attempting to bar the EPA from establishing disposal standards for coal ash. It highlights scientific findings from Dr. Michael Kosnett and Dr. David Kosson, which indicate that coal ash leaches carcinogens and toxic chemicals—including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and thallium—into groundwater at levels often hundreds or thousands of times above federal drinking water standards. The text references a specific coal ash spill in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and the TVA disaster as evidence of the risks posed by improper disposal.
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Document type: Statement
Will Private Finance Support Climate Change Adaptation in Developing Countries?
The paper argues that private-sector finance is an unreliable primary source for climate adaptation in developing countries due to historical patterns of uneven distribution across regions and sectors. Analysis shows that investment is heavily concentrated in major emerging economies, while Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and critical adaptation sectors like water and small-scale agriculture are largely neglected. The author cautions that the private sector's historical failure to alleviate poverty in the poorest regions suggests it may not naturally address the most pressing adaptation challenges without significant public finance intervention and more rigorous accounting of actual outcomes.
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Document type: Research paper
Letter to Nature
Scientists for Global Responsibility criticizes the disproportionate influence of military funding on science and technology, arguing that the Pentagon's R&D spending fuels arms races and diverts essential resources from addressing global crises such as climate change and poverty.
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Document type: Statement
Employment effects of coal ash regulation
The report critiques a study by the Utility Solid Waste Action Group (USWAG) which claimed that strict coal ash regulation could lead to the loss of 183,900 to 316,000 jobs. The author argues these figures are based on arithmetic errors, a misapplication of an unpublished academic paper, and unfounded claims regarding 'regulatory stigma'. Using the IMPLAN model and a high-end cost estimate from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) of $6.47 billion annually, the author calculates that the spending required for waste management, wastewater treatment, and construction would create 117,000 jobs, while the resulting electricity price increases would cause a loss of 89,000 jobs. The final result is a projected net gain of 28,000 jobs.
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Document type: Research paper
Message to Obama: Free America from the Tyranny of Oil
The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) advocates against the Keystone XL pipeline, citing the high greenhouse gas emissions of Alberta's tar sands and concerns over political influence in the State Department's permitting process. The statement also details CIEL's efforts to eliminate coal funding in international finance institutions, specifically criticizing World Bank loans for coal projects in South Africa and Kosovo, while referencing IPCC findings that renewables could meet nearly 80 percent of global energy supply by mid-century.
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Document type: Statement
Regulation of Cooling Water Intake Structures at Existing Facilities
The authors argue that the EPA's cost-benefit analysis for cooling water intake structures (CWISs) is fundamentally flawed due to the systematic underestimation of environmental benefits and the overestimation of costs. By incorporating a wider range of non-use values, correcting recreational value estimates based on the Bay Shore Power Plant study, and using revised cost estimates from Powers Engineering, the authors demonstrate that the most stringent regulatory options (Options 2 and 3) can yield positive net benefits. They further contend that the economic impact on electricity rates would be minimal and that stricter regulation would actually be more beneficial for national GDP and employment. Finally, they strongly oppose the use of site-specific calculations, suggesting instead a national standard with a higher threshold (e.g., 500 MGD) to protect smaller facilities while maintaining high environmental benefits.
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Document type: Statement
Soft Energy Paths for the 21st Century
The author contends that the Fukushima disaster was avoidable and highlights the systemic failures in nuclear regulation and governance in Japan and the US. He argues that nuclear power is economically inferior to renewables and efficiency, noting that renewables surpassed nuclear's global installed capacity in 2010. The text calls for Japan to leverage its technological strengths in efficiency and renewables to lead a global shift away from centralized, high-risk power plants toward distributed, clean energy systems.
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Document type: Research paper
Comments on the Second Project Design Document and Application for Validation after Rejection of Registration by CDM Executive Board GHG Emission Reductions through grid connected high efficiency power generation, Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd., India
CIEL opposes the validation of the Coastal Gujarat Power Ltd. project, citing a failure to properly record local stakeholder concerns in the Project Design Document (PDD) and alleging that the project's use of a once-through sea water cooling system violates Indian environmental law and harms marine ecology.
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Document type: Statement
Comments on validation of Thoothukudi Thermal Power Project India
CDM Watch opposes the validation of the Thoothukudi Thermal Power Project in India, asserting that the project is not additional and would lead to the issuance of Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs) that do not represent actual emissions reductions.
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Document type: Statement