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Friends of the Earth criticizes H.R. 2454, stating it fails to mandate actual U.S. emissions reductions until 2030 and weakens the EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act. The organization contends the bill prioritizes polluting industries and Wall Street through free pollution permits and carbon market loopholes, thereby undermining U.S. global leadership and job creation in green industries.

Friends of the Earth opposes a 2009 US climate bill, asserting that it sets pollution reduction targets too low, provides excessive subsidies to corporate polluters, contains offset loopholes, and allows Wall Street traders to manipulate carbon markets.

The report assesses the potential for linking regional and national emissions trading systems (ETS) to create a broader carbon market. It concludes that while an OECD-wide company-level market by 2015 is highly ambitious, linking serves as a critical bottom-up fallback option to top-down international regimes. The study identifies significant barriers to full bilateral linking, including divergent monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) provisions, differing offset eligibility, and a lack of consensus on carbon price levels. However, it suggests that unilateral links to international offset mechanisms and indirect links via credits are more likely in the short term.

The Climate 2030 Blueprint proposes a combination of an economywide cap-and-trade program and complementary sector-specific policies to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis argues that these measures can achieve deep carbon cuts while generating significant net savings for consumers and businesses, reducing oil dependence, and maintaining robust economic growth.

The report assesses government support for liquid biofuels in Canada, finding that total transfers between 2006 and 2008 ranged from C$860 million to C$1.02 billion. It argues that these subsidies are an expensive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve fossil fuels, often providing poor value for money compared to purchasing carbon offsets. While Canada has implemented some effective targeting and caps to limit costs, the report highlights poor transparency, a lack of rigorous environmental evaluation, and the potential for future infrastructure costs driven by blending mandates.

Michelle Chan of Friends of the Earth testified that traditional cap-and-trade systems are prone to speculative bubbles and regulatory gaps, drawing parallels to the 2008 financial crisis. She warns that carbon offset credits and complex derivatives could lead to 'subprime carbon' risks where securities are based on non-existent or failing emission reductions. To avoid these risks, she advocates for the McDermott bill, which excludes carbon offsets and implements a stable carbon price to prevent boom-bust cycles.

The document argues that while agriculture and forestry offer cost-effective and rapid opportunities for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, they have been fragmented and largely excluded from international policy frameworks. It highlights the significant potential for carbon sequestration in developing countries' soils and forests, while detailing technical barriers such as non-permanence, leakage, and accounting uncertainties. The briefing specifically discusses Canada's efforts to propose a 'Forward Looking Baseline' for forest management and its domestic regulatory approach to carbon offsets.

The document analyzes the role of agriculture in global GHG mitigation and adaptation, highlighting that while the sector has a technical mitigation potential of 5.5 to 6 GtCO2e per year by 2030, progress is hindered by accounting complexities and non-permanence of soil carbon. It details Canada's domestic offset experiences, such as Alberta's tillage protocol, and argues for expanding the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or creating new market mechanisms for sustainable development (MMSDs) to engage developing countries, where 70% of agricultural mitigation potential resides.

The document analyzes the landscape of emissions trading schemes (ETS) in North America, noting that while regional initiatives like the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) are advanced, national efforts in the US and Canada face coordination challenges. It argues that linking is logical due to economic ties, but current designs—particularly Canada's intensity-based targets—create barriers to bilateral links with absolute-cap schemes. The author concludes that a US federal scheme would likely preempt most state schemes, while Canada may use equivalency agreements to allow provincial schemes to persist.

The 2009 Rapid Trade and Environment Assessment (RTEA) for Namibia argues that the country should pivot from a bulk export model toward high-value niche sectors based on its comparative advantages in biodiversity and dryland landscapes. The report identifies significant opportunities in carbon markets, ecotourism, and indigenous natural products, while warning against 'green protectionism' and technical barriers to trade, such as EU sanitary requirements for red meat. It highlights the vulnerability of Namibia's water and agricultural sectors to climate change and recommends the establishment of a national forum on trade and environment to coordinate inter-ministerial policies and international negotiating positions.

The document defines indigenous peoples as descendants of original inhabitants who maintain distinct social, cultural, and political systems, often facing marginalization and poverty. It highlights the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) as a critical framework for protecting their rights to languages, education, and media. A central theme is the protection of 'traditional environmental knowledge' and the right of indigenous communities to control their intellectual property and cultural heritage. The guide also discusses the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in overcoming isolation, citing examples like the Kiechwa Satellite Network and the proposed Continental Indigenous Network in Central and South America to enable grassroots broadcasting in local languages.

A declaration by various international organizations opposing the World Bank's role in the UNFCCC climate regime due to its continued financing of fossil fuels, contribution to deforestation, and undemocratic governance.

The report critiques REDD as a flawed approach that focuses on reducing rather than stopping deforestation, potentially rewarding polluters through carbon offsetting. It highlights significant risks to Indigenous Peoples' land rights, the danger of replacing natural forests with carbon-poor plantations, and methodological failures such as 'leakage'. The author argues that market-based funding is volatile and inequitable, suggesting instead that funding should be grant-based, managed by the UN, and focused on addressing the underlying drivers of deforestation.

The report argues that REDD, as currently designed, focuses on reducing rather than stopping deforestation and risks becoming a tool for corporate profit rather than climate mitigation. It highlights significant risks to indigenous land rights, the potential for 'leakage' where deforestation simply moves to other areas, and the danger of replacing natural forests with monoculture plantations. The author criticizes the use of carbon markets to fund REDD, suggesting instead public funding derived from fossil fuel taxes and the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies.

The report critiques REDD, asserting that it is designed to reduce rather than stop deforestation and may incentivize the replacement of natural forests with carbon-poor plantations. It warns that financing REDD through carbon markets could allow industrialized nations to avoid reducing fossil fuel emissions, undermine national sovereignty in developing countries, and lead to the displacement of indigenous communities. The author argues that REDD's 'opportunity cost' calculations often benefit polluters and that the mechanism is susceptible to market volatility and corporate lobbying. The document advocates for a non-market, grant-based funding system managed by the UN, focused on ecosystem justice, the recognition of indigenous land rights, and the elimination of the underlying drivers of deforestation.

The report finds that REDD is a low-cost climate mitigation strategy, with $20 billion in annual funding potentially reducing 2020 deforestation emissions by 50%. However, it argues that political and institutional constraints—specifically the capacity and interest of major emitters like Brazil and Indonesia—will likely delay the implementation of a comprehensive global system until 2020 or later.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) reported total CO2 emissions of 1,125 metric tons in 2006 and 1,288 metric tons in 2007, representing increases of 6% and 21% respectively over its 2000 base year. These increases are attributed to a 33% growth in staff and the expansion of office space in Washington, DC. To maintain a "net zero" balance, WRI utilized the Chicago Climate Exchange for 2006 offsets and transitioned to Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism for 2007, sourcing credits from wind and landfill gas projects in India and China. Management activities included achieving LEED Gold Certification for office expansion and planning a 3,600-square-foot green roof. WRI also utilized Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to cover 100% of its 2007 electricity use, though it maintained a conservative accounting approach by purchasing offsets for all reported emissions regardless of REC value.

The document examines the role of carbon offsets within a cap-and-trade system, specifically focusing on the challenges of certifying reductions from forestry and agriculture. It argues that while offsets can lower compliance costs for capped entities, the rigorous requirements for offsets—being real, additional, verifiable, permanent, and enforceable—can create high transaction costs for certain project types. The authors suggest that instead of forcing all uncapped reductions into an offset framework, policymakers should use a mix of offsets, direct regulations, and incentive payments to achieve the lowest overall cost to the economy.

Friends of the Earth criticizes the Lieberman-Warner substitute amendment, stating that while it improves mass transportation funding and assistance for vulnerable countries, it weakens renewable energy funding and fails to meet scientific requirements for avoiding catastrophic warming. The organization highlights that EPA models suggest the bill only achieves a 25 percent reduction below 1990 levels by 2050, far short of the necessary phase-out of pollution by mid-century.

The document analyzes Japan's transition from voluntary climate instruments, such as the Keidanren Voluntary Action Plan and the Japanese Voluntary Emissions Trading Scheme (JVETS), toward a mandatory ETS. It compares proposals from the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), noting that the use of intensity-based targets and lenient penalties in some proposals could hinder direct bilateral linking with more stringent systems like the EU ETS. The paper concludes that while direct links are unlikely before 2013, indirect links via the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will remain primary until a mandatory system with absolute targets is established.