Hackers take over carbon trading site

Europe's carbon trading website was taken over by hackers as a protest against possible loopholes in the carbon trading system.

In what they called a "public act of digital direct action", the hackers aimed to raise issues such as corporate lobbying power and the problems associated with offering industries a licence to pollute under the present cap and trade scheme.  Associated with the radical Earth First movement, one of the hackers claimed that they "deliberately tried to maximise the virtual damage."

The European Climate Exchange (ECX) website was replaced for around 22 hours at the end of July and then replaced with a comical and critical spoof page, headlined "Super Promo - Climate on Sale".

According to the Guardian newspaper, the EU may have lost over €5bn to carbon-trading VAT fraud during 2008 and 2009. The EU's law-­enforcement operation, Europol, is concerned that the fraud will also be used in areas like gas and electricity trading markets.

EU pollution permits for businesses began in 2005 as an attempt to cut carbon emissions but so far, a lack of harmonised tax regimes has prevented the creation of an orderly Europe-wide market, making it a target for fraud.

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