Climate Change
A consensus of over 3500 scientists around the world has concluded that manmade CO2 emissions are the main cause of climate change. Recent measurements show a steady increase in mean atmospheric Carbon dioxide concentration from about 315 parts per million in 1958 compared to 385 parts per million as of June 2008.
Unfortunately CO2 does not fall out of the atmosphere like dust; in fact half of the CO2 emitted today will still be in the atmosphere a century from now. Carbon dioxide partially blocks infrared radiation and reflects the heat-bearing radiation back to the earth. As the carbon dioxide levels have increased, they have reflected and trapped more infrared, and the heat within it back to earth and is the cause of man-made global warming or the “greenhouse effect”.
Over 60% of the Earth's ecosystem services, including climate regulation, are degraded and there are simply not enough healthy ecosystems on the planet to maintain a balance.
There is only one viable way to remove vast tonnages of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it and that is photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis, is stored in long-lived trees and within forest products. The greatest potential for removing and storing vast tonnages of carbon is through the restoration and protection of forest ecosystems. This involves planting degraded ecosystems with native trees, and slowing the devastation of deforestation.
Carbon Offsets
To fight climate change, a first priority is to reduce the usage of energy and goods. This is accomplished by doing the easy things such as turning off lights, carpooling, composting, eating organic food, and finding ways of becoming more energy efficient. Even after all reduction efforts have been made there will be a remaining footprint that we cannot reduce. We can neutralize this footprint by buying carbon offsets that remove or reduce carbon from the atmosphere. However before buying carbon offsets we must calculate the carbon footprint, so we know how many tonnes to buy.
A carbon offset is a financial instrument representing a reduction in, avoidance of, or removal of greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere.
1 carbon offset equals the reduction, avoidance, or removal of 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent from the atmosphere.
Creating a carbon offset (V.E.R.)
As an analogy, the process is quite similar to that of building a house. First you will have an architect create a blueprint of the house, and once that is approved, you have the builders begin building. Along the way there are inspectors and engineers making sure that the construction is following the plan and is being done correctly. Once the house is complete, it is put on the market and sold.
Creating an offset project is similar. Let’s use a reforestation project as an example. The project developers will have to choose a standard as a model, and then follow that standard in developing a methodology. A qualified 3rd party validator then confirms the standard has been met by the methodology. Once validated, the project can be implemented. Finally, the number of tonnes of VERs is confirmed by a qualified verifier. At this point, the tonnes of VERs are serialized and posted on a Registry, and are ready for sale.
