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Carbon Credit

Since the Industrial Revolution, our climate has changed more dramatically than in any other period in history, which is largely due to carbon emissions. There is no question that industry has made our lives easier and more convenient in the past 100 years, but the resulting pollution has caused drastic harm to our environment.

Global warming is the major negative consequence of industrial pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Carbon dioxide is a compound found naturally in our atmosphere, but in very small quantities (about .04%). This compound is responsible for absorbing some sun’s infrared after they’ve been reflected from the Earth’s surface. When there is an abundance of CO2, however, too many rays are absorbed, heating the atmosphere to unnatural degrees – compare this to heat trapped in a car left in the sun. This causes global warming, also known as the greenhouse effect.

Although there are other greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming, carbon dioxide is the most prominent. Because this is the case, greenhouse gasses are known collectively as CO2 emissions. However, most nations’ economies are based around industries that produce carbon dioxide, so calling for an all-out ban would cripple many developed and developing nations.

The environmental future of our planet depends on curbing our carbon output. Carbon credits are fast becoming the global currency toward a greener planet. Many companies sell credits to commercial and individual companies interested in reducing their carbon footprint on a voluntary basis. This method of carbon offsetting lets people purchase from a carbon-development company that has accrued credits from individual projects such as planting trees or funding clean-energy research. The quality of the credits is validated by a development company that sponsored said carbon projects, which is often reflected in the price: individual credits tend to be cheaper than the Clean Development Mechanism - an arrangement that developed out of the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol is a program developed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which has set out to achieve "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic [human caused] interference with the climate system." It was during this summit, in 1997, that the idea of the carbon credit was developed. More than 100 nations signed it. The entire European Union participates in credit trading. The United States of America signed the protocol but declined to ratify – in which case the protocol is not binding.

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