Saturday, October 10, 2009

Decreasing Pollution Using Carbon Credits

By Micheal Fisher

The higher levels of concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has caused global concern due to the extremely harmful effects it has on the environment. Carbon credits and carbon offset are mechanisms that have been adopted for improving the current critical situation by motivating organizations to use greener methods for running their business.

The idea of carbon credits was introduced recently. One carbon credit permits one tonne of carbon dioxide or an equal amount of any other greenhouse gas to be released in the atmosphere. The overall amount of emissions in the world can be controlled through the carbon trading method in which carbon credits can be sold and bought.

Every organization is given a fixed amount of carbon credits that represent the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that it can discharge. A firm needs to resort to carbon trading when its discharge is more than the levels prescribed by its carbon credits quota, so as to purchase credits from those enterprises that have used greener methods and have extra carbon credits.

As a consequence, the global carbon emissions stay below prescribed levels, and the companies resort to eco friendly ways of doing business so that their emissions are lesser and they are spared of bearing extra expenditure on carbon credits. This system is beneficial for companies using ecologically sustainable methods to keep trying in this respect as they can make more earnings from carbon credits trading.

Carbon credits can be purchased like any other commodity because they are sold in a free market and there are various agencies that engage in this trade. In fact, even if you are not representing a firm, you can choose to purchase carbon credits so as to lower your carbon footprint. The amount you spend in this way is used for sponsoring ecological projects that are running across the world in order to counterbalance the impact of emissions from your activities.

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