Scores of social, climate and environmental justice organisations have already signed the Scrap the EU Emissions Trading Scheme Declaration and are inviting others to join them.

The Declaration calls for the abolition of the Scheme by 2020, on the grounds that it doesn’t work, and by focussing on carbon price as a mechanism for supposedly reducing carbon emissions has locked us into an economic system that’s dependent on fossil fuels.

The Declaration identifies these key flaws in the EU ETS:

• not only has the scheme not reduced carbon emissions, its poorly-regulated offset projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have led to an increase in carbon emissions
• it has worked as a subsidy scheme for carbon polluters
• it has led to volatile and falling carbon prices
• it increases social and economic conflicts in Southern countries where CDM offset projects are set up
• carbon markets are very susceptible to fraud
• public money is squandered on setting up carbon markets that don’t work or serve a public purpose
• it locks in the fossil fuel economy
• it prevents the development of effective climate change policie
  

  ClimateCamp occupies Bishopsgate outside European Climate Exchange 2009