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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: The 165 countries which ratified the Kyoto climate treaty gather in Nairobi today for talks on extending the pact. Delegates to the UN’s climate talks are worried. The U.S. isn’t participating, Europe’s carbon markets have stumbled and developing countries still don’t want to cap emissions. But from the Marketplace Sustainability Desk, Sarah Gardner says treaty supporters believe the pact can still work.
SARAH GARDNER: Over the next two weeks officials at the Nairobi talks will push for a major expansion of Kyoto’s Clean Development Mechanism or CDM.
It’s one of two key carbon-credit schemes in the treaty. CDM allows rich countries to win emissions credits by investing in clean energy projects in poor countries.
UN officials say helping developing nations like China and India cut their growing greenhouse gases is essential to combat global warming.
John Coequyt of Greenpeace is in Nairobi this week pushing that plan.
JOHN COEQUYT:“Not only does this transfer money, it also transfers technology and it builds some support within the developing world that they can move forward under the Protocol.”
Critics of the CDM market though say the UN isn’t monitoring the program tightly enough. They say it’s ripe for corruption, but a key UN climate official said last week he saw no inherent problem in “scaling up” the trading scheme.
I’m Sarah Gardner for Marketplace.