Interessanter Weise ist der Korruption im Emissionhandel ein Gastbeitrag im TI Korruptionsbericht 2009 gewidmet. Demnach wurden bis 2007 Emissionen im Wert von €40 Mrd. gehandelt. Je nach regulatorischer Ausgestaltung des Markts kann das um fast das dreißigfache bis 2020 steigen. Wo so viel Geld hockt, ist auch Korruption. Warum dieser Markt besonders anfällig sein könnte, habe ich hier schon mal diskutiert.

Die Autoren (Jorund Buen und Axel Michaelowa, Berater aus der Branche) nennen einigen Schwachpunkte und berichten von eigenen Erfahrungen mit Korruptionsangeboten und gefälschten Papieren aus Indien. Vor allem geht es um die Frage, ob ohnehin geplante Projekte leicht als zusätzlich ausgegeben werden, um Gelder zu bekommen.

Offsets are valid and make an effective contribution to reducing carbon emissions only if they are awarded for projects that would not otherwise have taken place. This additionality criterion is diffi cult to ascertain and can provide scope for manipulation. Here there is an ongoing ‘cat and mouse’ game between project developers, who try to get projects that would have happened anyway approved as additional, and the regulators, who have developed detailed rules to prevent such projects from qualifying under the mechanisms. In broader perspective, this underlines the fact that carbon markets are political constructs in which products, values and their distribution are critically shaped by rules and regulations, which as a consequence become the focus of intense lobbying, some of which might degenerate into corruption.

 Die bilaterale Handelsstruktur nennen die Autoren auch:

A final area of concern is the voluntary carbon credit market, in which companies and individuals without formal compliance obligations can buy offsets to compensate for their carbon footprint. While standards have been developed for such markets and most players act responsibly, a lack of regulation poses the risk of fraud – for example, the selling of one and the same emissions reduction to several customers.

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