The carbon detectives - World - NZ Herald News

"It is working," says James Cameron, vice chairman of Climate Change Capital, a London fund manager that has invested more than US$1billion in carbon credits.
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Gregg Marland, a staff scientist at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, says, "If you're selling oil, you're actually transferring something tangible. If somebody lies, somebody loses," he says. "In a CO2 transaction, you can lie and both win." The seller gets paid, and the buyer has his credit for compliance. "We're going to create a situation where both sides can win by cheating," Marland says.
...Mark Lewis, managing director of global carbon research at Deutsche Bank, says traders don't have the expertise to second-guess how emissions markets have been designed. They have to believe experts have set up a system that achieves real pollution cuts. "I assume the scientists are doing their job correctly and the market can then get on and do its job, which is to deliver emissions reductions at the least cost," Lewis says.

"There's no reason why you need to understand the science or even believe in it to trade in the market."