Australian firm hit by PNG carbon credit scam

Just a taste of what's to come, when [if - Ed] Penny Wong's new carbon trading economy kicks off and the ETS is introduced in Australia:

AN AUSTRALIAN company has been swept up in a $100 million carbon trading scandal in Papua New Guinea.

The scandal has led to the removal of the head of the country's Office of Climate Change and has prompted an investigation into claims that fake carbon trading certificates were used to persuade landowners to sign over the rights to their forests.

It threatens to undermine efforts by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong to win support at UN climate talks for a global carbon trading scheme that would include forests in countries such as PNG and Indonesia. Senator Wong yesterday declined to answer questions on whether the scandal had been raised at UN climate talks last month, or whether she had discussed the crisis with PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare or his officials.

The chief executive of the company Carbon Planet, Dave Sag, admitted to The Age that his PNG partner, Kirk Roberts, used mocked-up carbon certificates signed by PNG's Office of Climate Change director Theo Yasause as ''props'' when negotiating with local landowners. But he denied PNG media reports that the certificates were stolen or intended to mislead.

Read it here.