Negative Returns on South African Investments

edited by

Patrick Bond, Rehana Dada and Graham Erion

Can global warming be mitigated by carbon trading? With climate change posing perhaps the gravest threat to humanity in coming decades, and with free market economics still dominated by a few wealthy nations, it is little wonder so much effort has gone into creating a carbon market, no matter how much evidence has recently emerged about its flaws.

South Africa, a revealing pilot site, has initiated carbon trading projects with adverse economic, environmental and social impacts. This country pollutes at a rate twenty times higher than even the United States of America, measured by CO₂ emissions generated by each GDP dollar per person, so the idea of trading for carbon reductions is seductive – and potentially lucrative. Current state policy is supportive and a former environment minister is a market promoter, alongside the World Bank, the Dutch government and big oil companies.

Editors PATRICK BOND, REHANA DADA and GRAHAM ERION of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the TransNational Institute have assembled this cutting-edge collection to highlight the issues at stake.

‘The most destructive effect of the carbon offset trade is that it allows us to believe we can carry on polluting. This crucially-needed book provides ample evidence of the trade’s other dangers to “beneficiaries”, with case studies of fraud, accounting tricks and maltreatment of people and the environment.’

George Monbiot, Guardian columnist and author of Heat

The book is available at Exclusive Books, nationwide, as well as all other reputable bookshops. To order a copy, contact On The Dot Distributors on 0861668368 or – if you are an organisation, call (021) 918-8810 or e-mail: orders@onthedot.co.za