Shell sold millions of carbon credits for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that never happened, allowing the company to turn a profit on its fledgling carbon capture and storage project, according to a new report by Greenpeace Canada.
Under an agreement with the Alberta government, Shell was awarded two tonnes’ worth of emissions reduction credits for each tonne of carbon it actually captured and stored underground at its Quest plant, near Edmonton.
This took place between 2015 and 2021 through a subsidy program for carbon, capture, utilisation and storage projects (CCUS), which are championed by the oil and gas sector as a way to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.
At the time, Quest was the only operational CCUS facility in Alberta. The subsidy program ended in 2022.
Lets say that you’re married but you want to cheat on your wife. That’s not good, you don’t want to upset your wife and I don’t want you to upset your wife. So I’m gonna do you a favour, I’ll not cheat on my wife and sell you the credit! Now when you cheat on your wife it’s ok, because you have a credit that negates it! Zero sum, no harm!
And you know what, I wouldn’t want anyone to upset their wife so out of the goodness of my heart I will not cheat on my wife as much as I can so that I can sell the credits to other men, that way it’s ok if they cheat on their wives. They don’t have to worry about upsetting anyone and my good behaviour is rewarded with money!
And all I had to do was nothing, then sell the credit for it…
The carbon credit system is designed to make companies responsible for emissions to pay money to companies who are reducing emissions. It’s a financial incentive to produce less emissions AND on the other side, a financial incentive to invest in green tech.
Using your metaphor…if you stopped cheating on your wife you could avoid spending ten grand on wife cheating credits. That’s a financial incentive to stop cheating on your wife. So many people will stop cheating on their wives. Meanwhile, people who were thinking about cheating on their wives could instead collect ten thousand bucks for being faithful. So…many of those people won’t cheat on their wives.
Get it now?
I get how it’s supposed to work but who is keeping track of how many times I was going to cheat but then did not? Who says I even have a wife? Who says I REALLY was going to burn all that coal but then decided not to? Giving credits for not doing a thing is just too easy to abuse.
