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contents

° About carbon credit

° Definition
° Types of offset
° How it works
° Advantages
° Disadvantages
Yarbon Yredit
A =
=
 is a generic term meaning that
a value has been assigned to a reduction or
offset of greenhouse gas emissions. Yarbon
credits and markets are key components of
national and international attempts to mitigate
the growth in concentrations of greenhouse
gases (GHGs).
One carbon credit is equal to one ton of carbon
dioxide, or in some markets, carbon dioxide
equivalent gases.
Definition of carbon offset & carbon
Offset Firms
° The Environment Protection Authority of Victoria
(Australia) defines a carbon offset as: ´i
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° One carbon offset represents the reduction of one
metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other
greenhouse gases.
° A set of middlemen companies, called 

 

,
estimate a company·s emissions and then act as brokers
by offering opportunities to invest in carbon-reducing
projects around the world.
Types of Offset
° There are two markets for carbon offsets. In the
larger, compliance market, companies,
governments, or other entities buy carbon offsets
in order to comply with caps on the total amount
of carbon dioxide they are allowed to emit.
° In the much smaller, voluntary market, individuals,
companies, or governments purchase carbon
offsets to mitigate their own greenhouse gas
emissions from transportation, electricity use, and
other sources. For example, an individual might
purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the
greenhouse gas emissions caused by personal air
travel.
How It works
° Emissions limits and trading rules vary country by country.
For nations that have signed the Kyoto Protocol, which holds
each country to its own Y
 limit, GHGs trading is
mandatory. In the U.S, which did not sign the agreement,
corporate participation is voluntary for emissions schemes
such as the Yhicago Ylimate Exchange.

° If a company·s carbon emissions fall below a set allowance,

that company can sell the difference ³ in the form of credits
³ to other companies that exceed their limits.

° Offsetting isn·t yet government regulated in most countries;

it·s up to buyers to verify a project·s environmental worth. In
theory, for every ton of Y
emitted, a company can buy
certificates attesting that the same amount of greenhouse gas
was removed from the atmosphere through renewable
energy projects such as tree planting.
Yontinued«.
Example:
A mid-sized 3 mpg car driving 1
, miles/year
will create about 3.55 tons of YO
/year. Using
the carbon calculator of ´Yarbon Footprint
Offseters (Yanada)µ, it would cost only about
$35.5 or $
.96 per month.
Depending on the project, it may take from
several to many years before the offset actually
brings this YO
balance to zero. Also, that other
pollution is also involved (noise, other chemicals)
and may not be reduced to zero by offsetting.
ADVANTAGES
° Yompanies in different industries face
dramatically different costs to lower their
emissions. A market-based approach
allows companies to take carbon-reducing
measures that everyone can afford.
° Reducing emissions and lowering energy
consumption is usually good for the core
business.
DRAWBAYKS
Î Yarbon offsets have their own drawbacks,
which reflect a fast-growing and unregulated
market. Some offset firms in the United
States and abroad have been caught selling
offsets for normal operations that do not
actually take any additional Y
out of the
atmosphere, such as pumping Y
into oil
wells to force out the remaining crude.
Î The lack of offset regulations has also made
marketing problematic.