Carbon+Credits

Carbon Credits (Carbon Offset Credits) 

- A **carbon credit ​** (or carbon offset) is a financial investment in offsetting a company's or industry's carbon emissions without actually having to reduce its total carbon output per year. With these offsets a company can comply with the federal emissions caps if its carbon output is too high without the offsets. These offsets are purchased from an independent organization that then transfers the money into a project that is actively working to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere(ecomii, 2009).

Why We Use Them

With the world (mainly the United States) and this current generation paying attention more than ever to the impact that humans have on the Earth and our environment, the idea of carbon credits has only increased in popularity over the past few years. These credits came into existence when carbon emmisions limits were established and enforced so that many businesses were forced to choose between two options, either to spend large sums of time and money and risk losing profit amounts by reforming to meet the requirements, or to pay offset organizations that then use the money to fund various legitimate environmental projects that reduce enough carbon so that the company's total carbon emissions meet the regulations (Sustainable Travel International, 2009,ecomii, 2009).

Environmental Reasons

A large reason for these carbon credit's existence is due to the fact that carbon cycle has been strongly affected because of human's impact on the Earth. In its normal state, the carbon in the Earth should be relatively eaually distributed in the atmosphere and on land, however with the impact of humans it has been thrown askew. This can be attributed to the cars on the road, the various industrial businesses that release pollutants into the atmosphere, and from the burning coal that is mined. All of this has resulted in an excess of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere (U.S. Climate Change Science Program).

Effects of the Offsets

Though the idea of purchasing carbon credits has incresed in recent years and the fact that environmental impacts are now considered more than ever, still these credits are not looking like a viable solution to balancing the carbon cycle due to the fact that this does nothing to make major industries attempt to re-engineer their factories so that they would be more environmentally friendly. The same amount of carbon is still emitted by the companies.

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Offset Projects

The funds given from investors are then transferred to third-party environmental projects that remove carbon from the Earth's atmosphere. These various projects support a wide range of "green" forms of energy such as... -Wind Energy -Solar Energy -Clean Coal -Green Building -and many more...



 A brief explanation of carbon credits and how they work in our society.  References

1.ecomii, (2009). Carbon offsets. Retrieved October 9, 2009, from http://www.ecomii.com/ecopedia/carbon-offsets 2.Sustainable Travel International, (2009). Reduce your Carbon Emissions and Invest in Carbon Offsets. Retrieved October 9, 2009, from Our Programs Web site: http://carbonoffsets.org/#top 3.U.S. Climate Change Science Program, (November 2007 ). North American carbon budget and. Retrieved October 9, 2009, from US climate change science program Web site: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap2-2/final-report/default.htm 4.BEF Offests, Initials. (2008, September 28). //What is a carbon offset//. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoQQ7T-j6IY&feature=player_embedded