Do carbon credits really accomplish much?

Question

Or are they just an excuse for rich people to keep polluting while telling everyone else to change their lifestyle?

Answer 1

Yes they allow people to feel good about themselves and isn't that what the whole environmental movement is all about

Answer 2

If the system works as it's meant to do then it means there's a cap on the total emissions. The companies that reduce their emissions can sell their surplus credits to the companies that produce the most emissions, it's a swings and roundabouts scenario.

Within the market there's a fixed number of carbon credits linked to a total permissible level of emissions. The scheme is a way of rewarding those who cut emissions and penalising those that increase emissions.

As with stocks, shares and other commodities there's often a middle man acting as a broker and sometimes the actions of these brokers leaves a little to be desired.

You mentioned about rich people continuing to pollute. This would be possible but to do so they would need to buy additional credits and they would pay a financial penalty.

Answer 3

Consider these articles:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1889830,00.html

"Kevin Anderson, a scientist with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said: "Offsetting is a dangerous delaying technique because it helps us avoid tackling the task. It helps us sleep well at night when we shouldn't sleep well at night. If we had gone to the limit of what we can do in our own lives then I could see it would be a route to go down, but we've not even started to make changes to our behaviour. I'm sure the people attending the G8 summit didn't need a separate limo and Merc each to pick them up."

or if you want something considerably less benign:

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

"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."

Answer 4

I'm not sure. I think both the previous answers are valid. Since I'm not rich I've used those formulas as a guide to what I should spend to go green and spend the same funds towards energy efficiency.

I accomplish quite a bit more.

Why send $$$ to _____? when my house needs dual pane glass, to replace older appliances with energy star appliances, compost bin etc.

When I am efficient as I can get then yes, I will purchase credits and donate to projects and/or I'm already turning my investment portfolio heavily towards companies that support my enviornmental commitments.

Answer 5

What is a carbon credit. It is were you give some one cash to do some thing that cost very little as planting trees. It is a scam to make a few very rich. As in Al Gore he runs the thing, does what he wants as in the biggest carbon foot print in the US all the time wanting you to stop your life to save earth. He all so wants you to send him money just so you have heat on a cold winter`s night.

He is a con man. Did you know he was the owner of one of the wost mines for pollution in the US. He just sold it so he did not want to clean it up and it would looks very bad .

Answer 6

In addition to allowing rich people to keep on polluting, they also aid rich people in becoming richer by helping third world economies take over more businesses and jobs presently in the USA. Thus we hear accusations of socialistic motivations behind the global warming scare.

Answer 7

That depends on who you buy them from. Some carbon offset companies don't do a good job of making sure the projects they invest in come to fruition. For example, they might invest your money in a solar panel project that never gets built, and then your money is wasted.

The good companies will make sure the projects are good ones. In that case, carbon credits do accomplish a lot because they fund projects like planting trees or building renewable energy power plants which otherwise wouldn't have happened.

Also, many people who aren't rich buy carbon credits. There are people who buy them just to offset an airplane flight, for example. Also companies buy them, not just individuals.

Answer 8

Oh of course it is. I would love a permit for that, buy some land, plant some trees, and tax people for being stupid.

I just thought of something to add. You know that the environmentalist are going to shut this down eventually. "You can't force the trees to work these long hours with no pay while you get rich! Its a tree sweat shop! Tree exploitation! Outrageous!" oh this is fun, isn't it.

Answer 9

Bingo. It's a cop-out as far as anyone with common sense can see. It was some think tank's plan to satisfy all without doing anything because actually doing something requires making a decision and that would mean someone is unhappy and we can't have that.

Answer 10

They have the potential to make certain traders (like Al Gore and his partners) very rich.