Isramart : New Data on EU Carbon Trading Fraud Undermines Climate Fight

Isramart news:
In what is sure to provide additional ammunition for climate denial suicide bombers*, Europol, the European Union’s top law enforcement agency, has announced that more than $7.4 billion in tax revenue has been lost from schemes involving the trade of carbon credits.

The extent of the fraud is unclear, but when France, the Netherlands, the UK and Spain changed their tax code to prevent the fraud, trading activity dropped 90 percent, according to Europol.

The fraud threatens to make a punchline out of carbon trading, just as the US is considering its own carbon market — and the EU system is showing signs of working.

Ongoing Investigation

The 7.4 billion figure comes amidst an ongoing, months-long investigation by Europol and other national law enforcement agencies into what is called “carousel fraud.” In such a scheme, goods, whether they be cellphones, cars or carbon credits, are imported into one country without paying a Value Added Tax (VAT), then sold in that country with the VAT included. The seller then pockets the VAT, instead of handing it over to the government.