We struggled with giving you the choice, seeing that the end result really ends up being the same -- Less Greenhouse Gas Emissions. However, we believe that the choice is necessary, because of the differences in how the reductions are achieved. We should be able to choose, so we gave you the choice.
In part 1, we will take a look at how Carbon Credits are Created on the Chicago Climate Exchange. (Say that three times fast and you get a one-ton carbon credit free.)
The following came from the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) Website:
CCX issues tradable Carbon Financial Instrument® (CFI®) contracts to owners or aggregators of eligible projects on the basis of sequestration, destruction or reduction of GHG emissions.Is that helpful? Methinks we need to look a bit closer:
- GHG Emissions -- Greenhouse Gases consist of a great number of gases that exist in our atmosphere. Even though we have come to think of the term as somewhat negative, not all GHGs are "bad". In fact we need GHGs. Without GHGs in the atmosphere, heat would escape and the Earth would be really chilly. However, too many GHGs, and more heat would be retained, causing the temperature to rise. The claim is that we now have too many and the Earth's temperature is rising.
- Carbon Financial Instrument -- In order to reduce the total amount of GHGs emitted, the
Chicago Climate Exchange was formed to provide a financial aspect to the equation. Industry is invited to voluntarily join and commit to the reduction of GHGs. Companies can either reduce their emissions directly or purchase Carbon Offsets to make up for emissions that exceed their commitments. A CFI is the instrument that provides for the Offsets. CFI's are traded on the CCX to provide a market value to the offsets. Companies that reduce more or implement projects are awarded CFIs and can sell them on the CCX. These funds are used to offset the expense of the projects themselves. - Eligible Projects -- There are many different types of projects eligible to receive offset credits. You can review project types at Carbon Neutral Digest and on the CCX website. Projects are proposed to the Exchange by the owners of the projects. The project must then obtain independent verification by a CCX approved verifier to assess the projects actual GHG emission Sequestration, Destruction or Reduction. Only then, are the offsets issued to the project owner. CFI contracts in a quantity equal to the project’s GHG emissions mitigation for the year that the reductions take place.
Now the important part...
When a company gets these credits they can sell them. In some cases, these credits are sold to others that need to mitigate GHG emissions through offsets to meet their quota. In other cases, BuyforEarth.com's case, the CFI contracts are purchased and then retired. This means that the offset is not available to allow the emissions to occur. So our role is this, buy them, retire them and reduce the emissions.
1 comment:
You can also think outside the box and buy offsets directly from the carbon offset project and not through a 3rd party like CCX.
When you buy directly from the company that is doing the offset project you can reduce your costs and get more information about the project.
With more information about the project you can get your consumer more excited about the project and by extension your organization
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