The Sydney Morning Herald reported Sep 9th that the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade collaborated with Carbon Planet, a private carbon trading firm caught up in a firestorm of corruption, illegality, and false carbon credits in Papua New Guinea (Chris Lang and Natasha Loder have been covering the story closely on their blogs).
Carbon Planet also received $53,000 from the Australian Government. In what has become an all too common refrain in the carbon trading world, details of Carbon Planet and the Australian Government’s relationship are “commercial-in-confidence” aka completely lacking in transparency.
David Gilbert is a Research Fellow at RAN. He has worked in the tropical forests of the Amazon and Indonesia, with a special focus on forest conservation and indigenous rights.