The Debate on Carbon Trading

Written by director, Cathy Henkel

Definition: The trading of personal, corporate or national credits to maintain and gradually reduce carbon emissions.Read more about carbon trading.

It is my view that carbon trading is an inevitable and necessary tool for tackling climate change. Without a cap and trade mechanism, we will simply not meet the targets that scientific evidence shows are required for reducing carbon emissions. It may not be a perfect method of doing this, but it is inevitable. Particularly in the short term, as a way of 'buying time' for the planet and especially the forests, until more long-term solutions are found. So criticism of the concept should be viewed in this light.

The Burning Season addresses the criticism of carbon trading in a number of ways. Conservationist Patrick Anderson outlines the main criticisms and Dorjee's lawyers indicate that credibility is a big stumbling block. At almost every meeting that Dorjee attends in the middle part of the film, someone raises a problem or obstacle to his scheme. Achmadi's entire story-line raises the challenges and improbability of getting the money from carbon trading down to the village level. Carbon trading and the obstacles to including forests in future climate agreements are at the heart of the Bali UN Conference scenes.

Director Cathy Henkel with the Governer of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf

Two common criticisms of carbon trading are expounded; either it's seen as a "scam" or as a way for the industrial countries "to buy time". Both have validity. There have been a number of carbon trading scams, mainly associated with tree planting. To date, without a fixed price on carbon and without formalized cap and trade mechanisms, most carbon trading schemes are flawed or token. Some schemes are well intentioned and undertaken mainly to show a commitment to the concept of pricing carbon emissions. Others have been cynical attempts by big companies at 'green dressing' while they continue polluting. However, even these have a positive aspect, as they at least start the process of putting a price on emissions.

Audiences are entitled to ask themselves, throughout this film, whether they think what Dorjee and the Governors are doing is a scam or not? They can judge for themselves from the characters in action, and the claims they make. The film does not preclude this possibility, nor does it propose it.

The second criticism is that industrialised countries are "buying time". This is almost certainly true. Patrick Anderson and two of the characters at the Bali conference raise this issue. There is nothing in the film that says this is a good or a bad thing: buying time in this crisis is probably necessary and inevitable. Audiences will need to ask whether this criticism outweighs the value of stopping the destruction of millions of hectares of forest.

I think it is also fair to ask who is fueling the criticism of carbon trading? Is it coming from industrialized companies and big polluters to avoid paying for their pollution? Is it the oil and transport lobby who fear the cost to their business and profit margins? Is it the skeptics who doubt climate change? Is it those who don't want to pay the price for cleaning up our planet? Is it those who care more about money and lifestyle than the state of the planet they are handing over to the next generation?

Dorjee's motivation

Dorjee Sun with the Governer of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf

The film presents a range of possibilities on Dorjee's motivation and leaves the audience to decide whether they think he is doing it for the money, for the environment or both. Immediately after his first success, very early in the film, Dorjee himself describes the dichotomy of his business model as: "The more forests we save, the more money we make". At the first Bali meeting, his company manages to sign up "between 300 and 500 million tonnes of carbon credits" from the three Indonesian provinces. Dorjee then needs to find investors to buy these carbon credits.

At the NY hedge fund meeting he says "I've always had an abiding passion for conservation but I could never work out how to make it profitable. When the Kyoto process came through, there was a way to - one - a way to stop climate change, and - two - make money, so I started looking really closely." This is a very clear statement about his intentions and financial objectives.

"I've always had an abiding passion for conservation but I could never work out how to make it profitable. When the Kyoto process came through, there was a way to - one - a way to stop climate change, and - two - make money, so I started looking really closely."- Dorjee Sun

His parents believe he is not driven by financial gain alone, and by the time his father says this in the film, it's clear that what Dorjee is doing is by no means an easy way to make money. His father Martin says "If Dorjee wanted a comfortable life, he would have found an easier way of doing it." This is a valid point and including it halfway through the film creates food for thought for the audience; what are his intentions? How clever is he, really? He has invested his own money on a high-risk project. Will his gamble pay off? Will he lose everything?

In Bali, as the possibility of signing up Merrill Lynch gets stronger, Dorjee is asked by a reporter where the money will go. His answer is another of those moments where audiences are asked to make up their own minds. We watch him, in close-up, tell us that his scheme could be worth billions, but in the next breath he assures us that "Our company does not take even close to a large percentage of that money." It's a wonderfully obtuse and vague statement but delivered with conviction. He then goes on to make the promise that "When you buy a carbon credit from reduced deforestation, we then undertake for about a hundred years to stop that deforestation. So the vast bulk of that money will go to the local communities to prevent them from deforesting."

Even after the deal - worth between $9 million and $400 million - is signed, the issue of how much Dorjee will personally make is still not resolved. All of the initial $9 million is committed to setting up the scheme and employing the 1000 Acehnese ex-combatants to protect the forest. We will continue to track progress on the deal, and Dorjee's financial return, once it is known, on the website associated with the film.