🕐 2026-06-15 18:00 UTC · ⚡ KI-generiert
Climate protection as business: UN sells questionable CO2 credits to military junta
The UN has issued its first official climate protection certificates under the Paris Agreement – for a cookstove project in Myanmar that conducts business with the military dictatorship. Human rights organizations accuse the project of massively exaggerating its climate impact while maintaining connections to the junta. While Europe invests billions in offshore wind farms, a lucrative trade in dubious emission credits flourishes in the Global South.
Key Points
- The UN issued its first Paris Agreement credits for a Myanmar project that demonstrably cooperates with the military junta and exaggerated its climate impact
- A 2023 investigation found: over 90% of the largest certifier Verra's rainforest CO2 credits are scientifically worthless
- RWE simultaneously installed 100 turbines in the 1.4-gigawatt Sofia offshore wind farm – one of Europe's largest offshore facilities with real climate impact
- Cypress Creek Energy secured 3.5 billion dollars for the Steel River Solar project in the USA – actual infrastructure instead of paper credits
- The global CO2 certificate market has grown to over 2 billion dollars, while actual emissions continue to rise
The UN climate authority issued its first Paris Agreement-compliant CO2 credits for a cookstove project in Myanmar. The project aims to reduce CO2 emissions through efficient stoves and thereby generate tradable climate certificates. However, research by civil society organizations shows: the actual climate impact was vastly overestimated. At the same time, the project has proven connections to the Burmese military junta, which has systematically violated human rights since the 2021 coup. UN certification occurred despite these allegations – a precedent that shows how the international climate protection system works.
The beneficiaries are project developers and Western corporations that can offset their own emissions on paper by purchasing such credits. A typical credit costs between 5 and 15 dollars – developing genuine climate technology costs multiples of that. For companies, it's cheaper to buy dubious certificates than to actually invest. The Burmese population sees nothing from the revenues. Instead, international climate funds indirectly finance a regime that is officially sanctioned by Western governments. The contradiction could not be greater: with one hand sanctions, with the other hand climate funds.
Major media outlets barely report on the systemic problems in the CO2 certificate trade. The reason: it would call into question the entire climate protection architecture that politics and business have agreed upon. Investigative research by the Guardian, Source Material and others already showed in 2023 that over 90 percent of Verra's rainforest credits – the largest certifier – are worthless. The UN credits were supposed to be better, more transparent, more strictly controlled. But the Myanmar case shows: here too, business ultimately counts. Critical reporting would reveal that corporations buy themselves off with cheap credits instead of actually taking action.
The indulgence trade of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages worked on the same principle: pay money and your sins are forgiven. Back then, the wealthy bought themselves off from their moral failings, while the Church built magnificent cathedrals. Today, corporations buy themselves off from their emissions while middlemen earn millions. The difference: the climate crisis is real, not metaphysical. Every ton of CO2 that is not actually saved further heats the planet. The Reformation ended indulgence trading back then. The climate indulgence trade is still waiting for its Luther.
For ordinary people, this means: corporate climate protection promises are often worthless. When your airline, your electricity provider, or your supermarket advertises as "climate neutral," dubious credits like these often lie behind it. You pay more for supposedly green products while nothing changes. At the same time, your energy costs rise because genuine climate protection investments like wind farms are expensive. While Cypress Creek in the USA mobilized 3.5 billion dollars for genuine solar infrastructure, billions flow into a certificate trade that primarily enriches consultants and middlemen. The money is missing for genuine local energy transition projects that would create jobs and lower electricity prices.
Finanziert von Lesern — kein Konzern, keine Agenda.