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https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://medium.com/@bdajess/the-scramble-for-africa-looks-different-this-time-7c8569ef8bf6>
"Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a leading member of the royal family of
Dubai, is on a mission to help major companies and national governments reduce
their carbon footprint.
If you thought this meant halting new fossil fuel projects in the UAE and
investing in global green energy projects, bless your sweet soul. Instead, the
Sheikh has begun securing multiple forest management deals across Africa for
his carbon credit business, Blue Carbon.
The Dubai-based company was launched last year and — like other similar
initiatives — allows major businesses and governments to purchase ‘carbon
credits’ to help them ‘offset’ their annual emissions in order to get closer to
reaching their sustainability targets.
It works like this: for every carbon credit purchased by a company or
government, a sum of money is put towards projects that reduce or remove CO2
from the atmosphere. The buyer can then use these credits to subtract a
determined amount of carbon from their annual emission reports and claim to be
more eco-friendly.
But carbon credits are controversial, viewed by critics as ‘tradable
instruments’ that enable high-emitting companies and governments to compensate
for carbon emissions without actually having to reduce them.
In its latest deal, Blue Carbon has been granted permission to implement carbon
credit projects and environmentally conscious initiatives across 7.5 million
hectares of land in Zimbabwe.
The company has been awarded exclusive development rights to this vast area of
land by Zimbabwe’s government and plans to use it for projects related to
carbon offsetting, particularly in the areas of afforestation and agriculture.
Ahead of hosting the world’s biggest climate summit, COP28, this might seem
like a great PR move. But anybody who has delved a little deeper into carbon
credits will know that this strategy may not be a silver bullet."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
