The Carbon Trading Concept

by Mary Roberts

Carbon trading is a concept we may or may not be familiar with. We may have heard of it, but not know what it is about & how it contributes in lowering the carbons being given off to our atmosphere.

How does the carbon emissions trading scheme function? An administration basically figures out the amount carbon emissions are sent into the air by each company. It then reduces the total share to meet their international obligations. Each industry has to then meet the lowered target or pay a fine depending on how much they are over. When a company reduces its emissions below the level, it can sell their unused amount to other industries who may need more credits to avoid fines.

Just how are these companies suddenly reducing their emissions? How are these reduced emissions enough to observe the government’s requirements & still be enough to allow the company to sell to their contemporaries as carbon trades? You’d think if it is possible now, it is most likely possible back then. The fact of the matter is, industries are more likely to be more sensitive to these issues when there are fines imposed.

There is 1 unfortunate flaw however: carbon trading can and most likely will affect the people. Because companies might suffer from big fines arising from carbon trading, these companies can charge the consumers so they can still pay fines without affecting their profit. There is still room for improvement, of course, because carbon trading is still a new concept not many are too familiar with.

The good thing about carbon trading however, is that even if it is not a perfected process, it has already helped the environment a great deal. World Bank’s Carbon Finance Unit has stated that 374 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) were exchanged through projects in 2005. It signifies a 240% increase relative to 2004 (110 tCO2e) which was itself already a 41% increase compared to 2003 (78 tCO2e).

Discover more about Carbon Trading and Carbon Offset and get a deeper understanding on how you can help in saving the environment.

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