Nature-Based and Natural Solutions
The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024
In the first `100 days of 2024 we will explore 100 climate solutions that may “empower you to evaluate, engage, and act” to address on-going climate change as an individual on your terms.
Carbon credits. Carbon offsets. What are we talking about and more importantly what do we need to know about each to make informed decisions on how to work them into our personal climate mitigation and adaptation plan?
Carbon offsets are a trading scheme for governments, individuals, or businesses to “offset” their emissions by investing in efforts to reduce, avoid, or remove emissions somewhere else. With the investment comes carbon credits that monetize the climate benefits of the transaction. Carbon credits, have a value and thus are a tradeable commodity. One carbon credit is equivalent to the reduction, avoidance or removal of one tonne of carbon dioxide or its carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e).
What a seductive concept. Kind of like mortgage backed securities were round about 2008. I may seem skeptical. But then again I listened when Margot Robbie explained it to me in The Big Short:
The key to this is that climate change action has to be real, and not the creation of accountants. We need reforestation and afforestation projects on a massive scale, because we are certain of the impact of forests to capture carbon dioxide. So if a carbon credit is actually backed bye the emission reduction or removal of one metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (or CO2e), then they have value.
The actual offset can be verified by third parties using labels like “Verified” or “Certified” Emission Reduction. In an interesting development, the gold standard for offsets is Gold Standard for the Global Goals purports to bring “high-level integrity and credibility to the most important global goal of our time: climate security and sustainable development”.
Implementing carbon credits equitably is not a given. The climate justice campaigns of groups like Oxfam International seek to protect the poorest, those “who did the least to cause the crisis” but face not only increasing health and security impacts of a changing climate. Add to that the blowback as rich individuals and corporations attempt to offset real climate action with carbon credits.
“We need to manage land in ways that tackle climate change and hunger together and strengthen the rights and resilience of communities”
Oxfam International 2021
Oxfam has analyzed the real impact of converting land to forests to satisfy the global desire for this economic benefit will require an area equal to all of our current farmland. Implementing this on such a massive scale will surely impact low- and middle- impact countries the hardest with the potential for increase food insecurity, drought, and the likely need for displacement.
Not as likely to be an issue in our rich country. But you will encounter carbon offsets, possibly when you buy a ticket for your next flight. As of today you can Cool Effect you can buy an offset of the 0.78 tonnes of CO2e for $12.86. With one-click shopping you can buy your offset and fly guilt-free. All you have to do is trust that Cool Effect is going to take care of the carbon dioxide that will definitely be emitted during your flight.
The individual choices you make about optimizing your air travel and other actions that may have an impact on the climate should be taken with care, thought, and research. The same for carbon offsets and credits, where in addition to research the program that may fit your values, you should look for valid third-party certification and even take the next step of verifying that project actually exists.
Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 68: Make Your Soil Healthy
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