It’s Blog Action Day! The day when bloggers all over the world join their voices to speak on one particular topic. This year we’re talking about climate change. Personally, I think climate change is a rather nebulous term that fails to incite emotion and does nothing to call people to action. Rather than rant on about that, I’ve decided to focus my efforts on Blog Action Day in a positive direction! Lets explore the concept of carbon credits to determine if they may help stabilize our climate.

Green House Gases

We have all heard of green house gases. They are the fumes given off by both human and environmental processes that go up into our atmosphere and get caught up there, trapping the suns energy in our atmosphere; causing the overall temperature of the planet to rise, quite like a greenhouse. The following graph from Environment Canada describes the sources of these harmful gases:

Environment Canada (2004)

The largest culprit is clearly Industry, being responsible for over half of the gaseous emissions on the planet. Regular folks, like you and me, are responsible for our fair share as well within the categories of Transportation, Products, and Heating. I expect that we also have a part in that Industry piece, as Industry is busy making stuff for us to consume.

Everyone knows there is a major problem here. We have to cut back on these gases to reduce our negative influence on our planet, if we wish to continue to call it home sweet home. Turning this big ship around is not an easy task. It involves breaking well-ingrained habits of individuals and business, as well as counteracting the incentives that exist to continue to pollute our air. Lets face it: there is money to be made by emitting greenhouse gases, otherwise people wouldn’t be doing it. Historically there has been no money behind protecting the air, and there was no money to be made in making the right choices for the planet. Enter:  carbon credits.

Carbon credits are a concept that came out of the Kyoto Protocol, which is the legally binding agreement to reduce the collective greenhouse emissions of the industrialized nations to 5.2% below 1990 levels, which 184 industrialized countries have ratified (the US is not one of them). Carbon Credits bring money into the saving the environment equation with a cap and trade system. Each country is allowed to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases that they can allot to the gas emitting businesses within their borders. Carbon credits can be bought and sold between both companies and countries. If a company has left over carbon credits, it can sell them to another company that wants to pollute more than its original allotment of carbon credits allow.

Carbon credits can also be created as carbon offsets.  Companies can create carbon offsets by doing environment friendly activities such as reforestation, and creating clean forms of energy such as wind and solar power. These offsets can then be sold to companies who want to pollute more than they have the credits for, or to individuals who can voluntarily purchase offsets to compensate for their personal carbon footprint.

A whole new industry is popping up around this concept of selling carbon offsets. Plant some trees, sell the carbon offsets. The David Suzuki Foundation states that purchasing carbon offsets can help in the battle against climate change, but warns the consumer that not all carbon offsets are create equal. While carbon credits is far from a a perfect system, it does introduce money into the equation, and puts the power of the free market behind doing what is right for the environment. As sad as it might be, it has come down to harnessing our dark inclinations, such as greed and selfishness, to enforce business to do their part for the environment.

What do you think about carbon credits? Will they have the intending effect of stabilizing climate change, or might the system be perverted by greed? Are you considering voluntarily purchasing carbon offsets to compensate for you and your family’s carbon footprint?