Whether we like it or not, we are about to move into a heavily carbon-constrained world. This is not all bad news, because it could actually be turned to an advantage in the fight to eradicate poverty and raise the living standards of the developing world.
The G8 and other developed countries face a major challenge in achieving their Kyoto targets for reduced carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, many developing countries have a long way to go before they fill their quotas -- hence the trade in carbon credits. At the moment, this trade involves a country like Canada paying a developing country, (say) Botswana, for its emissions credits. While this might help the country meet its targets, there is another approach that would bring greater benefits to both Canada and Botswana -- and without money changing hands.
A country like Canada has a skilled workforce, expertise and an industrial infrastructure to build energy-efficient housing, create clean water supplies, build and install renewable and clean-energy power generators, etc. These are precisely the things that many developing countries like Botswana need but don't have the indigenous resources or funds to create for themselves.
So what if Canada, instead of paying cash, offered to carry out environmental and social projects for Botswana in exchange for carbon credits?
This way Canada gets to use its existing infrastructure and expertise -- at the same time, creating jobs, stimulating the development of environmental products, materials and skills (for which there will inevitably be a growing market in the future), and so on -- while the money that would have been paid for the carbon credits stays in the country. Meanwhile, Botswana gets the projects it needs -- clean water, green housing, appropriate and renewable energy, etc. It's a win-win situation.
Furthermore, no money changes hands, so none goes astray into the wrong pockets. And the Planet benefits too -- not only from Kyoto targets being met, but from the overall increase in sustainable development and the manufacturing resources necessary to support it.
Enlightened developing countries should see the benefits of this model. It is likely that getting green projects in exchange for carbon credits will be cheaper for the developing countries than undertaking the projects for themselves by purchasing the skills and materials in the commercial market. In fact, a new market might develop whereby developing countries bid for the projects they want. Canada could offer, say, to build 1,000 energy efficient homes and let developing countries bid, thereby achieving a better price for carbon credits.
A skills transfer program could be included in the projects to spread green capabilities -- and to ensure that this was not just another way of maintaining developing countries in a state of dependency.
Exchanging green projects for carbon credits offers a new model for developed and developing countries to interact with one another, while promoting global sustainability.