What are carbon credits?

[tomspug]

Carbon credit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I had no idea these things existed.

The concept of carbon credits came into existence as a result of increasing awareness of the need for controlling emissions. The IPCC has observed[2] that:

Policies that provide a real or implicit price of carbon could create incentives for producers and consumers to significantly invest in low-GHG products, technologies and processes. Such policies could include economic instruments, government funding and regulation,
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while noting that a tradable permit system is one of the policy instruments that has been shown to be environmentally effective in the industrial sector, as long as there are reasonable levels of predictability over the initial allocation mechanism and long-term price.
The mechanism was formalized in the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement between more than 170 countries, and the market mechanisms were agreed through the subsequent Marrakesh Accords[3]. The mechanism adopted was similar to the successful US Acid Rain Program to reduce some industrial pollutants.

See also: Economics of global warming

So it seems that the regulation of carbon emissions has become a literal business. Now environmentalism is bought and paid for by investors, regulated by big business and those that "buy and sell" (literally) carbon usage.


Gore's 'carbon offsets' paid to firm he owns

Here is the mission statement of Generation Investment Management, of which Al Gore is the Chairman:

• Long Term Focus: A majority of a company's value is determined by its long-run performance. Investment results for long-only equity strategies are maximized by taking a long-term investment horizon
• Integrated Sustainability Research: Sustainability issues can impact a company's ability to generate returns and therefore must be fully integrated with fundamental equity analysis for superior long-term investment results
• High Conviction Investing: A concentrated approach allows maximum leverage of an intense research effort. We make investments only when we have high levels of conviction

This isn't about the environment. It's about STOCKS. It's about making MONEY. Some incentive, huh?



What worries me about this is that the environmental movement is about moral responsibility. How long is it going to be until we have commercials with giant corporations telling us which products to buy in order to love the environment. Wait... we already DO!

We are no longer individuals. We are consumers, so we don't need to make environmental decisions anymore. They are made for us by (not the government)... businesses. Is this the kind of change that the environmental movement wants? It kind of reminds me of "organic" foods. Real organic farmers will tell you that there is little or no difference between commercial organic food and regular food, because it is still packaged and transported the same way, and there is no difference in how healthy it is for you. The real way to impact the environment is to change your LIFESTYLE and your CULTURE, not your shopping habits.

Something tells me this is only going to get worse.

 

[Keila Jedrik]

Real organic farmers will tell you that there is little or no difference between commercial organic food and regular food, because it is still packaged and transported the same way, and there is no difference in how healthy it is for you.

At least with local organic food we know we aren't eating Chinese tomatoes injected with transmission fluid to make them redder and juicier. And some people think its bad karma to support a business that grows chickens from infancy to adulthood in cages so small they can't sit down, can't lay down, and can't turn around.

 

[larsonmahl]

I agree with a lot of what you say, but I think that like just about everything in life, there are good and bad things about carbon credits. Anything that involves the exchange of money ultimately touches on some amount of abuse and very likely that can and will happen with carbon credits too.

But on the flip side...
I like the idea that carbon credits gets people and companies thinking about their lifestyle and how they both use and waste resources. Once people begin to start thinking about their resource footprint -- and with carbon credits they can calculate and see how much they are wasting -- they hopefully will start to realize that they can actually save themselves a lot of money by using resources more efficiently.

A certain class of people will value companies that are using resources wisely and they will purchase those products.

When used properly, I think carbon credits have their place.

Larson Mahl
howtobuycarboncredits.info

 

[Alceste]

I think carbon credit trading is a lollipop for whining businessmen and economists who will not tolerate any form of change that can not be in some way profited from. These same businessmen also have the power (the media ownership and PR expertise) to manufacture public opinions that can make or break a political party, so no politician anywhere is going to do anything to upset them, no matter what conclusion "the people" come to when they are informed rather than manipulated.

I'm not going to complain about them, since they're microscopically better than no action at all, but I would personally like to see a no-growth economic model, 3 or 4 day work weeks, the cessation of dependence on non-renewable natural resources and a vast expansion of municipal allotment programs and initiatives. And a few other things besides.