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Article

26 Apr 2007

Author:
Fiona Harvey, Stephen Fidler, Financial Times

Industry caught in carbon ‘smokescreen’

A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place...[It also revealed] industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially...[The] environment adviser at HSBC...that went carbon-neutral in 2005, said he found “serious credibility concerns” in the offsetting market after evaluating it for several months... DuPont, the chemicals company, invites consumers to pay $4 to eliminate a tonne of carbon dioxide from its plant in Kentucky that produces a potent greenhouse gas called HFC-23. But the equipment required to reduce such gases is relatively cheap. DuPont refused to comment and declined to specify its earnings from the project...BP said it would not buy credits resulting from improvements in industrial efficiency or from most renewable energy projects in developed countries.