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Largest Cleantech Industry is…Carbon Credits, $63 Billion

cleantechnica.com — Emerging out of thin air, it has already surpassed solar and wind as the largest cleantech industry. Carbon credits were worth a staggering $63 billion in 2007 and $59 billion in the first half of 2008 alone.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 31, 2008

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  • h0ser, on 07/30/2008, -12/+108and it is all a scam. Giving money away for nothing. 5 years ago it woulda been unheard of. Paying to pollute is the stupidest idea i've heard in a long time.
  • theNazz, on 07/31/2008, -9/+58Penn and Teller has the carbon credit scam exposed for what it is. *****.
  • serif69, on 07/31/2008, -1/+45Dear Al Gore,

    I farted. Here's $1.

    Love,
    Guilt
  • Ninh, on 07/31/2008, -8/+44Scams always make the most money.
  • MommaLu, on 07/31/2008, -9/+41Carbon credits are a scam. It's simply preying on people that feel guilty for living a decent life.
  • h0ser, on 07/30/2008, -2/+31there are better ways to discourage companies to pollute. This just lets rich companies purchase carbon credits, it doesn't reduce their pollution at all. The carbon credits aren't mandatory so there are still thousands of companies out there that aren't going to bother buying any credits at all. They are the smart ones. The companies that buy the credits are only doing so to make their company look better in the eyes of naive people that buy into the whole carbon credit scam.
  • CAP811, on 07/31/2008, -7/+31Go Al Gore!
    Laughing all the way to the bank and back to his "carbon-neutral" mansion.
  • serif69, on 07/31/2008, -2/+24Yes. It's a guilt tax.
  • inactive, on 07/31/2008, -9/+30Penn and Teller has the carbon credit scam exposed for what it is. *****. Al Gore owns one of the largest carbon credit firms. Funny, eh?
  • sustainablogger, on 07/30/2008, -2/+21This is probably a drop in the bucket compared to what we'll see if we implement cap-and-trade in the US...
  • katorga, on 07/31/2008, -2/+22Umm. Carbon credits don't clean anything. They ration carbon...taking from some and allowing others to keep pumping it out.

    And yes, Al Gore owns interests in the firms that claim to reduce carbon so that they can sell credits to polluters. Example, they plant trees, assign a credit value to them, then sell the credits. No one verifies that trees are planted and have grown past sappling stage. etc. It is rife with fraud.
  • Appity, on 07/31/2008, -5/+20I just got a trillion carbon credits from http://www.freecarbonoffsets.com

    I guess I'm set for life now, no eco-guilt for me!
  • IronDonut, on 07/31/2008, -5/+18What a giant friggin scam. Watch Wall St. to get in on this in a big way. They are the biggest player in selling ***** that has no actual value for lots of money.

    Since everyone already has all the stuff they need Capitalism can only survive by creating fake demand "markets" by puffing up bubble after bubble?

    1. Soviet's are going to kill us all cold war bubble
    2. Technology / Internet Bubble
    3. Real Estate Housing Bubble
    4. Green / Clean / Eco / Global Warming Bubble

    All of them undertaken with religious zeal by their proponents. All of them with Wall St at the core. All of them to a large degree 95% *****.
  • inactive, on 07/31/2008, -2/+15It is. They make snake oil.
  • Erich100, on 07/30/2008, -4/+16And who tracks the use of the money? it'll be like trying track the money the Federal Reserve sucks out of the American economy.
  • zacharytelschow, on 07/31/2008, -5/+16Headline should read: "Idiots Waste $63 to Appease Their Conscience. Gore Profits."
  • Screwy1138, on 07/31/2008, -4/+13Looks like the Al Gore fanboys are out for now. Anywho, pollution is bad, mmkay? Paying to be able to pollute is dumb, mmkay? Profiting off of 'letting' others pollute is evil, mmkay?
  • pudds, on 07/31/2008, -2/+10Environmental confession is big business.
  • Totz83, on 07/31/2008, -1/+10Penn & Teller told me this was *****!
    Well mostly Penn, but dammit Teller played his part too
  • KirilTodorov, on 07/30/2008, -4/+13I had no idea it was such a big industry!
  • raybury, on 07/31/2008, -2/+10Dear Sir,

    I represent the deposed Prince of Geothermia and am seeking your help in transferring eleventy billion ($111 000 000 000) dollars worth of carbon credits from ecobanks in the deposed Prince's homeland. Of course you would be richly rewarded for helping us move this money. All you need do is cripple your economy so you don't have the money to help African AIDS victims or rescue Tsunami victims or come to the military assistance of oppressed people, but can look forward to lowering the temperature by dozens of picodegrees over several millenia. Please cash this check for $60000 and simply send us a 10% fee today!
  • owenkun, on 07/31/2008, -4/+12Amen, brother. Carbon credits are the environmental equivalent to buying a ( product ) red iPod or giving .25 cents to a homeless guy; something that makes you feel good, makes other people think you're a good person but, in the end, doesn't do much to attack the real meat of the problem.

    I'm as liberal as they come and, despite being dissatisfied over FISA, an Obama supporter. Even still I can see what a scam carbon credits are.
  • Pittance, on 07/31/2008, -5/+11Haha. Huge scam.
  • craighoxton, on 07/31/2008, -2/+8This is the newest scam in town - every "financial market participant" with half a brain is getting in on this carbon trading gig. The last scam - hedge funds - is starting to get played out (investors are getting wise to this and are starting to be more picky as to who they invest with but pension funds are starting to pour more and more money in).
  • hexydes, on 07/31/2008, -2/+7Oh yes, much stupider.
  • badnewshotel, on 07/31/2008, -4/+9Wow - PT Barnum is rolling over in his grave because he was so right... suckers!!!!!
  • JCPahl, on 07/31/2008, -2/+7...and my respect for Penn and Teller raises another notch.
  • cbearnm, on 07/31/2008, -2/+6OK, so let me see if I have it straight.

    Al Gore hates that the rich can do whatever they want; use as much resources, pollute, etc..

    Al Gore's personal residence uses many, many more times the power of almost any other residence in Tennessee. And yet he doesn't need to feel guilty about the above, because he purchases carbon credits.

    Al Gore is rich and as such can do whatever he wants; use as much resources, pollute, etc.. (flying to Global Warming (oops, Climate Change, as if it is naturally a static system) conferences instead of web conferencing, driving a motorcade to the Inconvenient Truth premiere instead of walking the 3 or 4 blocks from the hotel, ..)

    Al Gore hates himself - suddenly his whole schtick makes sense to me.
  • elfuego, on 07/31/2008, -2/+6Carbon Credits, giving someone cash to plant a tree somewhere and assuage your guilt, are *****.

    Carbon Offsets, paying extra money so that the electricity you use is offset by renewable energy getting pumped into the grid, therefore reducing our need for polluting energy sources, are not *****.

    Reading some of these comments it seems people are confusing the two.
  • BOFH2, on 07/31/2008, -1/+5Funny, when Catholics and other religions use confession to clear their conscience people laugh at them. When corporations are built to allow people to buy offsets so they can not feel guilty it is praised. Seems kind of hypocritical to me.
  • UrbanGreen, on 07/30/2008, -2/+6There are trading systems in place, like European Union Emission Trading System that was mentioned in the article. The Chicago Climate Exchange is U.S. based example. Carbon credits are bought and sold through them, so total are derived by their reports.
  • Erich100, on 07/30/2008, -1/+5I didn't ask about the trading. I asked about the use of the money. Traders very rarely help anything they pretty much suck the goodness out of anything they touch. What is the mechanism to check what new technologies are being developed with the money, how much of the money is profit etc. I'm sure the majority of people involved in this have the best intentions, but those who created it and those who stand to gain will prove they are not to be trusted.
  • lukemorris, on 07/31/2008, -1/+4Awww come on. Even the Catholic church got rid of indulgences. Now we're using them in the green world? That's BS.
  • Lamadave222, on 07/31/2008, -5/+8I have a joke I pull on my students. I tell them they can make $1 million by selling "holes of all sizes" on the internet. I guess I'll have to upgrade to Carbon Credits this year. Might even replace my best seller.....powdered water (just add water). Seriously between the Euro's making money off it, attempts at government compulsion and just the silliness of the idea in the first place.......oh well, Obama will no doubt believe this is the solution and institute it fully. I'm putting my money in mattresses starting now.
  • danielf30, on 07/31/2008, -0/+4That is exactly right, it is eco guilt... anyone see Penn and Tellers BS episode on this, it was quite funny. :)
  • blumpyX, on 07/31/2008, -1/+4Carbon credits is a scam to generate more money for rich people the world over.

    All it does is shift pollution from one bit of the globe to another and make already comparitively rich industrialists in third world countries rich while they lay off their work force, all so someone like Ford or Nestle can carry on pumping crap into the air/sea/landfill sites. complete *****
  • aserer511, on 07/31/2008, -2/+5morally speaking, carbon credits are very, very stupid. they draw the following moral equivalency; they let a profitable but dirty company buy these credits to pat themselves on the back and allow greencompanies to 'clean up their mess', but still engage in the same dirty behaviors, not solving anything
  • schapman43, on 07/31/2008, -4/+6What the hell is a carbon credit? Did the tree huggers get sick of cornholing each other so now they're going to cornhole all of us?

  • macdady843, on 07/31/2008, -3/+6The environmentalists' plan is finally coming to light unfortunately. This idea is such a crock of *****.. all it is is a clever ploy for the redistribution of wealth from big companies to go to welfare like programs. Don't let these politicians scare you into taxing yourself because they whine about the environment and how we're heading towards doomsday. I think few people realize the impact this "carbon credit" will have on our infrastructure in the U.S. Everything we do and purchase will raise in price because of this shady tax/trading of carbon credits.
  • BXRWXR, on 07/31/2008, -2/+4Sounds like a Carbon Shell Game to me.
  • ozymandias2012, on 07/31/2008, -3/+5I have to congratulate whoever is making a killing off this carbon credit business. They've mastered the art of getting money for nothing. The kicker is it can go on forever since "carbon credits can be a way for an organization to throw money at a problem instead of taking action to reduce their own carbon footprint of their operations." Brilliant!
  • yoda17, on 07/31/2008, -2/+4There's a lot of money to be made in global warming!
  • Math, on 07/31/2008, -4/+7"Paying to pollute is the stupidest idea i've heard in a long time."

    The alternative to paying to pollute is that companies are not allowed to pollute more than x amount. The reality is that some essential industries pollute a lot more than others, and if you shut down these industries, then you're going to go back to living very basic third world style lives.

    A market based solution is more adaptable than a tax on pollution, and doesn't need the government constantly tweaking the price of CO2.
  • CosmoP, on 07/31/2008, -1/+3Sounds like another ENRON
  • dafragsta, on 07/31/2008, -1/+4and people are paying as much for it as real oil apparently.
  • Typhoon2009, on 07/31/2008, -1/+4I don't need a TV show to tell me that buying a "credit" for carbon is malarkey. How about instead of urging us to buy carbon credits they urge us to donate to projects that are working to make the world greener? Nuclear fusion projects, tidal power projects, solar power projects, hydrogen projects, etc.
  • aladrin, on 07/31/2008, -1/+4If you think giving $40m to homeless people would help them 1 iota, you are sadly mistaken.
  • st00f72, on 07/31/2008, -0/+3Well said.
  • Skab, on 07/31/2008, -2/+4It's a scam started by al gore. it's just a way to purge people guilt. waqtch the ***** episode on global warming.
  • eyespypro, on 07/31/2008, -1/+3The 3 Carbon Monte!
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