Carbon Offset Credits - Thoughts?

Question

What are the street creds on carbon creds? Is the general opinion that carbon offset credits are beneficial and legitimate, or a 'green - scam'? If legitimate has anyone personally purchased them for themselves or given them as gifts?

Answer 1

A huge scam. And this is what we've discovered so far while global warming is a media darling. Think of what will come to light if the media turns against GW activists.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,,2093850,00.html

An excerpt:

The carbon market's leading analysts, Point Carbon, recently calculated that this scheme handed out 170m too many EUAs. In the early days, nobody realised quite how badly the commission had miscalculated, and so the price of the EUAs was quite high, at up to €30 a tonne. But individual companies, particularly energy companies, rapidly saw they had millions of tonnes of EUAs that they didn't need, and so they sold their surplus, making huge profits. A 2005 report by IPA Energy Consulting found that the six UK electricity generators stood to earn some £800m in each of the three years of the scheme.

A separate report by Open Europe, in July 2006, found that UK oil companies were also poised to make a lot of free money: £10.2m for Esso; £17.9m for BP; and £20.7m for Shell. And behind this profiteering, the environmental reality was that these major producers of carbon emissions were under no pressure from the scheme to cut emissions.

At the other end of this EU market, smaller organisations like UK hospitals and 18 universities, who had been given far fewer EUAs, were forced to go out and buy them - while the price was still high. So, for example, the University of Manchester spent £92,500 on EUAs. Now that the truth about the glut has been revealed, the university would be doing well if it managed to get £1,000 for the lot of them.

It's a shell game where the most unethical stand to benefit the most.

And worse yet, their results are criminally low considering the great cost and effort.

Ten years after the idea was launched at Kyoto; six years after the guidelines were drawn up at Marrakech; a year and a half after it finally went to work: the CDM thus far has issued only 50m tonnes of certified emissions reductions to offset global warming: Britain produces more emissions than that in a single month.

Answer 2

It is a bull$hit way to say you are doing something for the environment. Only Al Gore types will have you believe otherwise while he sucks down electricity at his mansion at a rate of 10x that of a normal american household on a per square foot basis.. (OOOH< but it's OK because he buys offsets....well he buys them through his own company).

Here is the deal, you are essentially saying I have enough disposeable income to pay someone else to conserve energy while I continue to consume at a normal or excessive rate.

The next Webster dictionary will have carbon offset purchasers listed under the word hypocrite.

If anyone gave me an offset as a gift, I would be rather upset by the notion.

Sorry, I almost forgot to mention that it is very likely a scam because you have no proof that the purchase of said "offsets" will result in anyone conserving energy on behalf of the "offset". Like one of the other answers said, the person or entity that is supposed to make themselves more efficent could just be wasteful somewhere else to "offset your offset".

Answer 3

Many of them are a scam. The only carbon offset I would use is an offset that goes towards alternative energy production. Avoid the tree-planting schemes.

Answer 4

It's a total scam that coal-fired power plants have been using for YEARS in order to not clean up their acts.

Now convienantly that there is money to be made, the same people who were against offsets for coal-fired power plants support a carbon offset for businesses.

Answer 5

Giving credits is a real scam. All you need to do is take a look at what China is doing. Currently, China is building coal burning electrical generating facilities at an alarming rate!

They offer a "Credit" to another country by stopping or knocking down one of these facilities in exchange for money. That company then builds one thinking they are not adding to the problem due to the purchase of the "Credit".

However, China just builds another one somewhere else thus starting the cycle all over again. So, the purchasing of Credits really does nothing to eliminating polution. It is better to do your best effort. Or plant trees, build an O2 Emitter (AKA Jacob's Ladder), Recycle. At least that is tangible!

Answer 6

Carbon offset credits are legitimate ways to fight global warming. Although reducing your own emissions is a solid way to combat global warming, sometimes that just isen't feasible. A lot of websites are in the offset "business" as a non-profit group. I Think that websites that make money off the offset idea is ridiculous. One non-profit carbot offsetter is www.CO2Debt.com
I'd check them out for carbon offset related services / Information.

Answer 7

scam

Just a way for Al Gore and his cronies to make money.

Meaningless propaganda would be more honest.

If carbon credits are real.. I should have some to sell and be making money from them. Compared to the average American, I use less gas, electricity and buy little in the way of stuff where CO or CO2 producing processes are used.

Answer 8

The plants are doing a great job ,I don't think anything could do better. It is our politicians trying to raise the tax for gasoline even higher and other energies. This is already placing more financial load on the poor.

Answer 9

For individuals, I'm skeptical. Little effect, mostly a "feel good" thing. It's possible for individuals to get scammed.

As a way to use the free market to get industry to make major reductions in carbon emissions in the most cost effective way, they're excellent.

Answer 10

It's a brilliant way to make money. You can legally take money from people without giving them anything in return.....hey, it just like taxes!!!!!!!