Here is a fun exercise for everyone to try out today: try to breathe extremely fast for 1 minute, as if you had to absorb all the oxygen you need for the next 5 minutes, and then stop breathing completely for the remaining 5 minutes. GO!
Did it work? Probably not… ECO calls it the “gram-minute” breathing technique, an innovative measure of oxygen intake. It’s inspired by the “tonne-year” accounting method which some Parties are trying to bring back under Article 6, and which attempts to measure the benefits of short-term carbon storage. The claim is that storing 300tCO2 for 1 year would be considered equivalent to storing 1tCO2e for 300 years. If ECO’s breathing technique is making you suffocate, you can relate to how the planet feels about tonne-year accounting.
“This is silly,” you say? ECO agrees. Or rather, it’s unscientific. There have been multiple reports about the shortcomings of tonne-year accounting as well as detailed submissions to the 6.4 Supervisory Body, which led the SB to set “tonne-year” aside. Some countries are now calling for its return – ECO thinks it should stay where the SB left it.
(Do not try this at home! Attempts to perform the gram-minute breathing exercise are at your own risk. ECO accepts no liability for delegates passing out in the process of attempting this for the sake of proving their point.)