WSJ.com : Under Fire: Corporate Climate Plan Pleases No One

[Bob Corker] The notion that this bill will give significant allowances—with real monetary value—away for free is outrageous.

Dems Float Plan to Stave Off the Econopocalypse (Full Text) | PEEK | AlterNet

· NASA: $600 million, including $400 million to put more scientists to work doing climate change research, including Earth science research recommended by the National Academies, satellite sensors that measure solar radiation critical to understanding climate change
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· National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellites and Sensors: $600 million for satellite development and acquisitions, including climate sensors and climate modeling.

Sunita Narain: The public relations republic

A few years ago, investigating the sale of carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), we found the auditing agencies hired to certify the project were indulging in nothing less than fraud. They were simply cut-pasting parts of different reports, dealing with different projects, to get their clients certified. The auditor, in this case, happened to be the same Satyam-soiled agency, PricewaterhouseCoopers; equally-acclaimed Ernst & Young were also involved.

When we published our findings, we indicted the CDM process more than the auditors. The international community, in this case, has designed a process in which the project proponent hires a consultant to do the project design and the same company hires a validator agency to certify the project report its own consultant prepares. The Bonn-based CDM board authorises a select number of validators it believes are world class. The board has made convoluted rules to determine which project can qualify its criterion for ‘additionality’ — projects that are more than business-as-usual in its books.

The obfuscation in the procedure makes it important to hire a big fish certifier who knows the ropes. Result: A flourishing business for creative carbon accountants.