Carbon Credits

Since more and more concern has arisen about greenhouse gases causing unnatural levels of global warming, the concept of exchanging or purchasing carbon credits has become a common one among the world's industries and manufacturers.

Global Warming Concerns

The revolutionized world is burning fossil fuels at alarming rates. The emissions and their effects are causing a significant change in the earth. By the rapidly increased production of greenhouse gases (Carbon Dioxide, Methane and other fluorinated gases), the earth's atmosphere is becoming thicker and thicker, causing global warming. This is causing the earth to be more insulated than ever before. As a result, the earth's temperature is naturally increasing.

There has been rise in sea levels and an increased water level in the world's oceans which is a result of this warming. Due to this, significant climate change has been witnessed in both increased temperatures and varying precipitation levels throughout the world.

Pollution is Bad

Almost everyone knows that pollution is bad. It's a recognized and acknowledged fact that the burning of fossil fuels causes emissions that cause damage to the earth.

The countries of the world have held environmental summits in order to discuss the problem and to attempt to find solutions. Many nations have made promises to meet specific guidelines within a certain number of years. Many countries are on track to meet these guidelines, but not without some degree of help.

Carbon Credits

As many nations begin to face the guidelines they imposed for themselves environmentally, it's become a realization that meeting these guidelines is going to be more difficult than first anticipated.

Many manufacturers and industries have realized the economic impact of reducing emissions and determined it's going to cause them a degree of deficit. In search of a solution, it was brainstormed to "trade" credits with others.

If one industrialized nation was exceeding its quota for emissions, then it could balance itself out with a partner nation that was less industrialized and not using up its quota. Thus the idea of carbon credits was born.

Reduce Emissions

With the concept of carbon credits, a price tag could be placed on pollution. It became a commodity to be bought and sold, so to speak. There are a variety of ways to reduce emissions by buying carbon credits.

For instance through the Kyoto mechanism, a company currently exceeding emissions guidelines can purchase credits from another company that is not meeting its expectations. This balances out emissions and makes the lesser polluting company some extra cash. Thus, it becomes desirable to be a company offering credits.

Another way carbon credits come into play is by polluting companies investing in "green" companies that give back to the environment. As an effort to offset emissions, one company might invest in a project that works to give back to the environment. One example is a company that continues to exceed emissions standards investing in a project in a developing country that recovers methane from landfills in order to create power for use by others. The project that reduces emissions helps to offset the increased emissions by the polluting company.

A company may also earn carbon credits is by purchasing state of the art equipment that is determined to reduce emissions in the long term. Once this company reduces its emissions, it may have excess credits. They may elect to offer their excess credits to another company that currently is exceeding its emissions allowances. This investment in the other company's technology earns the offending company credits.

Critics explain this as a lot of smoke and mirrors. In some ways it is. However, anytime that people work together to reduce the effects of pollution and to work to decrease or stop global warming, it's a positive thing.

Hopefully, companies and manufacturers will find a way to reduce emissions without having to trade carbon credits. But, in the meanwhile, at least an effort is being made.

• Ways to Prevent Global Warming
• 50 Specific Actions of Green Living
• Examples of Sustainable Development

• United States Recycling Statistics
• Types of Pollution
• Effects of Water Pollution
• Air Pollution Statistics
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels

• Definition for Global Warming
• Non Renewable Resources
• List of Renewable Resources
• CO2 Scrubber
• Carbon Cycle Diagram