UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A new report is fueling criticism the U.N. is wasting billions of dollars on carbon-cutting projects.
European and U.S. environmentalists demanded an investigation Friday into a "carbon market scandal" in the wake of an obscure U.N. panel's report. The report questions the validity of some of the largest projects funded by the U.N.-managed Clean Development Mechanism, a $2.7 billion market in heat-trapping gases.
The report issued on the panel's website Thursday lends credence to environmental groups' claims the "CDM" market is being manipulated by 22 chemical manufacturers in developing nations.
The market lets industrial nations that are required by treaty to cut their greenhouse gases to instead pay developing nations to cut theirs.
Manufacturers get as much as $100,000 for every ton they destroy of a potent greenhouse gas, HFC-23.
