The greens of Eastern Europe are against the sale of carbon credits
The president of the Green Party of Belarus, Aleh Novikau, affirmed that the green movements of Eastern Europe are against to that their nations sell bonds of carbon and other gases of greenhouse effect because this type of businesses, described as "green" in countries of the Western Hemisphere, would generate a high level of unemployment.
During a conference at Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), Novikau explained that for Eastern Europe, countries such as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the climate issue is part of the daily agenda of political parties, as it directly impacts the quality of life of people and the economy, for the issue of nuclear energy and the supply of hydrocarbons.
"We support the unions that oppose the sale of carbon credits because if the country reduces its share of emissions it should stop producing, the factories would close and workers would have to be fired," said the politician, who spoke about the position of the countries of Eastern Europe before the last Summit of Copenhagen, held in December, which brought together the countries party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The trade in greenhouse gas bonds allows the emission quotas established by the convention to be traded for each country, which are sold by tons between countries or between companies and countries. For this exchange, a whole certification route is followed through operational entities designated under the Clean Development Mechanism, which was created under the Kyoto Protocol.
According to the Belarusian, the last conference of the parties revealed the difference or polarization between the countries of the first world and the rest. The summit did not achieve the binding commitments that were expected but only a "political declaration" that does not include means of implementation.
The main challenge of the sixteenth Conference of the Parties of the convention (COP16 2010), to be held this year in Mexico, is to agree a limit to the concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere towards the 2050 (the limit desirable is 450 parts per million and 2.8 tons of GHG per capita).
About Aleh Novikau
The current editor of the ecological magazine Mirny Atom was recognized at 2001 as the best journalist in Eastern Europe by the University of Dortmund (Germany) and has been the international secretary of the Student Free Trade Organization.
Green Party of Belarus
The Green Party of Belarus has participation in some regional parliaments and since the year 2008 is a member of "European and global greens". It was founded in 1994 by ecologists, NGOs and civil activists of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The party has departments in all regions of the country, mainly in the capital of Belarus, Minsk.