ThoseCompensation carbone
Co₂ certificates bought abroad are not worth much
Switzerland is investing millions in Thailand to compensate for its CO₂ emissions. However, reports reveal that these projects have questionable efficiency.
Switzerland supports the construction of these buses in Thailand and in return receives climatic certificates to compensate for its own greenhouse gas emissions.
Urs Flüeler/Imago
- To compensate for its CO₂ emissions, Switzerland finances in Bangkok the commissioning of electric bus.
- However, Thailand had already planned to introduce its own electric buses.
- Another rice farming project carried out in Ghana reveals important gaps in terms of controls and measures.
- Critics are demanding more climate protection in Switzerland rather than dubious compensation abroad.
The Bangkok project should be an example: the private Energy Absolute company built and operates electric buses for public transport in the Thai capital. For this, it receives millions of Swiss francs. In theory, this contribution is supposed to allow Switzerland to compensate for its CO₂ emissions.
The project is funded thanks to a tax imposed on Swiss fuel importers, which can rise to 5 cents per liter fuel oil, diesel or petrol.
This project, like other initiatives supported by Switzerland abroad, arouses particular interest. For the first time in the history of climate policytwo countries implement an agreement as part of the Paris Convention. By supporting the Bangkok initiative, the Confederation hopes to save 500,000 tonnes of CO₂. In return, the Thai government gives it climatic certificates, which Switzerland can deduce from its own emissions. This approach must allow him to keep his commitments. Ultimately, almost a third of the reduction referred to in Switzerland In terms of Co₂ should come from such projects carried out abroad.
Thus, the whole world has its eyes on this project. However, it turns out that it only partially works.
Major problems revealed by reports
A report on risks, commanded by the Federal Office of the Environment (OFEF), shows that the electric bus project encounters several problems. The Office recently put the document online, without prior communication. The evaluation was carried out by the independent agency Bezero Carbon, based in London. She concludes that it is doubtful that the Swiss funds have effectively made it possible to reduce CO₂ emissions.
Indeed, this acquisition of bus is part of the modernization of the fleet of vehicles already planned by the public authority Bangkok Mass Transit Authority. “Political objectives and investment plans in Thailand provide anyway the use of electric buses,” said the report.
The document highlights other gaps. The accounting of CO₂ emissions is based on standard factors for diesel buses, “which do not necessarily correspond to actual consumption”. In addition, emissions linked to Thai electric mix are “possibly underestimated by 17%”. Note that only 13% of electricity in Thailand comes from renewable sources like hydroelectricity or solar.
The Confederation does not say how much money Switzerland is investing in electric buses in Thailand.
Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP
The South Pole climate protection company has designed and supported the Bangkok project at the request of fuel importers. It challenges criticism, ensuring that the program meets ecological, regulatory and financial requirements, as confirmed by several economic and sectoral analyzes.
The amount paid by Switzerland to the project in Thailand remains confidential, the parties having agreed not to disclose it. According to the Confederation, fuel importers have contractually committed to offset around 6 million tonnes of co₂ abroad. At a price of 35 francs per tonne, this compensation would represent 210 million francs. Switzerland has signed Thirteen State agreements For the implementation of such projects, of which only five have been approved to date. In addition to the Thai project, another is underway in Vanuatu and three in Ghana, but the latter also encounter difficulties.
Climate compensation goes through Ghana
Another risk report assesses a climate -friendly rice farming project in Ghana. The Confederation thus wishes to compensate for part of the CO₂ emissions from the Federal Administration. The Federal Council allocated some 37 million francs until the end of 2030 for this project and entrusted the implementation to the UN development program in Ghana.
Farmers must adopt the so -called alternating irrigation method, considered less polluting. The allocated funds are mainly used to train rice farmers, part being paid directly to the peasants. The Confederation hopes to reduce its co₂ emissions by around 1.13 million tonnes.
The method of calculating greenhouse gases is particularly criticized. The project is based on standard values rather than measures in the field. In addition, only methane emission is taken into account, while other relevant gases, such as nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, do not appear in the balance sheet. The follow -up is also deemed insufficient: it is essentially based on self -recordings and photos provided by farmers, with very few external controls.
In addition to the risk of the reliability of information, experts warn against a “high risk” during the implementation. In addition, the policy of the Ghanaian government, which favors maximum rice productivity, is incompatible with this alternative approach. Consequently, it is likely that many farmers disengage from the project.
The first electric buses were already in service in Thailand before Switzerland’s commitment. Experts mandated by the Swiss government doubt that Swiss funding has a real impact on the climate.
Imago
OFEV claims to take criticism from risk analyzes very seriously. “They are used to improve the quality of the projects examined and, if necessary, new projects,” says Robin Poëll, spokesperson. According to him, the objective of the evaluations is to identify the avenues for improvement. In principle, the Federal Council considers that compensation abroad is more advantageous: with an estimate of 35 francs per tonne of CO₂, these projects would be less expensive than equivalent climate protection in Switzerland.
The compensation of emissions has its limits
For Delia Berner, an expert climate at Alliance Sud, the two risk reports show “that it is difficult, if not impossible, to compensate for Swiss emissions with such projects”. Several years after their approval, new uncertainties question their validity. “If the electric buses in Bangkok can work without this project, you should not create CO₂ certificates, because there is then No additional reduction emissions, ”she explains.
Regarding the rice project in Ghana, no certificate has yet been issued. “And this report shows that no certificate should be in the future, because CO₂ reductions can be verified reliably.”
Delia Berner also denounces the lack of transparency. The two projects would have been poorly evaluated, because private actors have favored commercial secrecy, in particular on the amounts actually paid, to the detriment of the public interest in terms of climate protection. “If even the studies mandated by the OFEV do not have access to essential documents to analyze the project, this poses a serious problem of quality control.”
Alliance Sud demands a change of course from the Federal Councilor Albert Rösti and the Federal Department of the Environment (DETEC): “Switzerland must finally stop lulling the illusion according to which the purchase of CO₂ certificates abroad is equivalent to a reduction in CO₂ on its territory.” The organization believes that the Federal Council must now specify how it intends to advance climate protection in the years to come.
Faced with criticisms of the report and NGOs, the spokesperson for Detec, Harald Hammel, replied: “All compensation projects respect high, regularly controlled standards. This improves them. If the requirements were seriously infringed for certain projects, the DETEC reserves the right to suspend them. ”
Climate compensation projects abroad already arouse criticism in Parliament. During the winter session, the national councilor Christine Bulliard-Marbach (The Center/FR) had questioned the realism of the Swiss plan, which aims to reach around a third of its climatic objectives thanks to the compensation of the CO₂ abroad. His doubts are based in particular on the small number of projects approved to date and on the criticisms of which they are the subject.
Albert Rösti forced to rethink climate policy
Swiss climate policy is currently deadlocked. Federal Councilor Albert Rösti withdrew before summer his projects For the post-2030, after several departments, including those of finance and the economy, have made criticism. The Federal Council should look into the file in the coming weeks in Bern.
The main points of disagreement relate to the high costs linked to the continuation of the current support policy and to the uncertainties surrounding the planned extension of the carbon market. Environmental associations and the Green Left Alliance ask Albert Rösti to favor compensation for CO₂ emissions on Swiss territory rather than abroad, as is the case in Bangkok.
The DETEC specifies that the law also provides for this type of compensation. But beyond the feasibility, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions must remain “economically viable”.
Translated from German by Elisa Andrade.
“Latest news”
Do you want to stay at the top of the info? “Tribune de Genève” offers you two meetings per day, directly in your e-mailbox. To not miss anything of what is happening in your canton, Switzerland or in the world.
Other newsletters
Did you find an error? Please report it to us.
