Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) has published a new working paper, “Carbon Markets After Paris: Trading in Trouble”, which takes a critical look at carbon markets and emissions trading schemes (ETSs), and concludes that these neoliberal policies have “failed both workers and climate”.

The policy of “putting a price on carbon” has been enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement and has long been favoured as the key mechanism for reducing emissions by big business and neoliberal policy makers. For its proponents, carbon trading offers the solution to limiting emissions without unduly disrupting business-as-usual and economic growth.

However, the new TUED working paper demonstrates that carbon markets have led to tensions between unions and are therefore a “lose/lose/lose” proposition for the labour movement. The paper concludes with a call for unions to see past the “neoliberal fantasy” of carbon markets and to work with allies “to better concentrate on developing and organizing around the kind of programmatic commitments that can seriously tackle climate change and the systemic roots of the crisis.”

You can read a summary of the paper, written by its author Sean Sweeney, Coordinator of Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, here: Facing up to the Failure of Carbon Markets

And you can download the full working paper here: Carbon Markets After Paris: Trading in Trouble

Trade Unions for Energy Democracy is part of the GLI Network.