What The Heck Is A Carbon Credit? Ask Umbra

Grist:

Q. Dear Umbra,

I don't understand carbon credits and how people can buy/sell/trade them. How is this good for our environment?

Elizabeth
Columbus, Ohio

A. Dearest Elizabeth,

I believe you speak of the carbon credit, rather than the carbon offset? The carbon offset is a consumer product that you or I could buy, enabling us to mildly compensate for our greenhouse-gas emissions by supporting renewable-energy projects. You know, "I'm sorry I'm repeatedly choosing to break your leg, let me apologize by funding medical training in Zimbabwe." The carbon credit, on the other hand, is an aspect of the industrial "cap-and-trade" program and works slightly differently than the offset. I'll tackle carbon credits today; if you find yourself thinking, "Dang that Umbra, I really wanted to know about personal carbon offsets," write again or visit my old column on that topic.

Read the whole story: Grist

Comments

[kingcityguru]

It is a scam comparable to papal indulgences of the past.
You pollute your area as much as you want and then you buy a credit from some guy some where who says he will plant an equivalent number of trees. Of course, he may or may not do it (how will you know) and he may or may not have intended to plant them anyway (how would you know) and he may or may not then cut those trees down in a few years and burn them for fire wood (how would you know).

Waste of money -- a tax on the stupid Liberal types.