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Today, as the world marks international anti-corruption day, global negotiators meeting at a climate summit in Madrid are considering greatly expanding a system that some say is already greatly compromised.
Delegates at the COP25 UN climate summit in Madrid are setting rules for a new international carbon market, which will allow wealthy countries to meet their climate goals in part by buying carbon credits to offset their own emissions. Those credits will be used to fund massive clean energy projects in the developing world. But critics worry that much of this money could disappear since it’s very dependent on local governments, which are sometimes plagued by corruption.
Critics point to problems with the existing system – the Clean Development Mechanism launched by the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. And they worry that the new system, which will be much bigger in size and scope and start next year, will only increase the risk of corruption meaning funding doesn’t go to the right places.
The success of this new global carbon market will depend on legislatures around the world being as free from corruption as possible. And as the climate negotiators haggle today in Madrid, legislators from around the world are meeting in Doha, Qatar for a summit of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption. The efforts that are made there could determine whether global carbon markets are a success or a failure.
The organization, founded in 2002 and based in Canada, brings members of parliaments from all over the world together every two years to discuss how to root out corruption. It deals with corruption in all areas of lawmaking.
Dr Hend bint Abd Al Rahman Al Muftah, a member of Qatar’s Shura Council legislature hosting this year’s summit, said energy is one of the areas that parliamentarians know leads to big projects that affect many people.
“When it comes to energy, unfortunately it might be a very sensitive issue,” she said at the summit. “It really touches the lives of all humans wherever you go, from the developed to the developing countries.”
She noted there are stories of funds meant for energy projects in developing countries not going to the intended recipients. “Unfortunately because of corruption such major projects are never implemented,” she said. “As a result those people who are suffering from energy issues they will never be able to live in a very comfortable society.”
“Corruption exists in every sector, whether it’s energy, politics, economics, or social affairs,” she added. “It exists and it will last forever, because it has to do with human nature.”
This was a consistent theme running through this year’s summit: how to root out the causes of corruption which are, in the end, a result of very human impulses. The focus in particular was on how corruption is impeding fulfilment of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals adopted in 2015, designed to foster growth that is healthy for society and for the planet.
“We have only ten years to change this planet,” said Gabriella Cuevaz Barron, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, at the summit. “In order to achieve these sustainable development goals, we need to change politics, we need to change the institutions.”
Majda Alfallah, a member of the high council of Libya, agreed. “These are the resources to meet the needs to present and future generations,” she said. “There is a barrier that stops us from implementing these goals – this barrier is corruption. It’s a disease that affects us all.”
Climate negotiators will continue discussions in Madrid for the remainder of the week. But as the global system for climate finance is fleshed out, more and more attention is going to be paid to making sure corruption in national parliaments doesn’t lead to a misuse of these funds.
