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Carbon credits are intended as a way to fund projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases globally.

They are a tradable permits scheme created by the Kyoto Protocol to allow organisations to meet standards by buying and selling emissions permits. They provide a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by giving them a monetary value with the overall long-term aim of making polluting expensive and increasing the motivation to reduce emissions.

Carbon offsets are the voluntary version of carbon credits. Offset projects include reforestation, renewable energy plants and energy efficiency schemes.

Carbon markets are now big business and the whole concept is very controversial, often seen as a means of cancelling out pollution by paying someone else not to pollute rather than simply reducing emissions, with the potential for mistakes and abuse. See Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits

There is lots more information on this subject at Grist.

Posted under carbon footprint, educational resources

There is no agreed definition of carbon neutral (sometimes called ‘climate neutral’) but it is generally understood to mean calculating total carbon emissions, or carbon footprint, reducing them as much as possible, then balancing out the remaining emissions by purchasing carbon credits, so that a process or an individual, household or business has a carbon footprint of zero.

In the home it needs a combination of measures such as:

• Limiting energy usage and emissions from transport – avoiding flying, and using the car less by walking or using a cycle or public transport instead.
• Reducing energy use in the home and insulating and draught-proofing the house to make it more energy efficient.
• Switching to a renewable energy source, perhaps by installing solar panels or changing to a green-energy provider.
• Offsetting remaining emissions through a carbon project or by buying carbon credits. 

Posted under carbon footprint, educational resources