And that if you attempt to set up a market without having the first [expletive deleted] clue about how capitalism works on a practical level, that market will be manipulated by people who do have a [expletive deleted] clue about how capitalism works on a practical level.
Executive summary: the UN/Europeans set up a system by which industries could earn “carbon credits” through various, presumably eco-friendly, activities. These credits could then be sold to other companies, allowing them to “pollute” – scare quotes because the term can and does mean anything from actual pollution to the breaking of some highly bizarre, secularist-religious taboos – more themselves. …OK, in the sense that this is what was done. But the wrinkle is that industries could score extra carbon credits by destroying particularly noxious gasses. As in, ‘orders of magnitude’ extra. So a bunch of industries in India and China started to do just that; they ramped up production of one particular refrigeration coolant that produced an awful – and suddenly lucrative – gas byproduct. The companies then destroyed the gas byproduct. They then took the credits that they got from destroyed the gas byproduct, sold said credits for a healthy profit – and sold the refrigeration coolant dirt cheap to keep demand for it high. And, of course, with demand being so high, the companies involved can point out that they’re involved in legitimate business practices*.
End result: profit!
Secondary end result: various environmentalists and environmental bureaucrats making fish mouths and ga-ga sounds! Especially when the industries involve cheerfully tell them that if the bureaucrats don’t keep paying up, the industries will go back to venting the gas! Continue reading #rsrh NYT, UN, Big Green discover that a carbon credit market is a MARKET.