Making Sense of Carbon Offsets

Making Sense of

Carbon OffsetsEwan O’Leary

Offset Collective, Inc.18th June, 2008

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parts-per-million<@#$^!!>

Carbon 101

Fungible = freely exchangeable

20.4Metric Tons/ yr

(EIA)

475 Trees(for 10 years)

EPA

2,983MtCO2e(World Bank)

=

“One carbon offset represents the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases.” -Wikipedia

How Offsets WorkCO2e

into the atmosphere

CO2eOut of the

atmosphere

You

Value the Priceless

1. Baseline emissions2. Set an emissions cap

Sightline Institute

Value the Priceless

3. Issue permits4. Reduce the cap

5. Trade!

Can we scale?Sightline Institute

Voluntary Carbon Market

Consumer Demand=

Popsets?

LULUCFREDD

Renewables

Methane200+project types

Follow the Money

• Reduce costs• Promote

investment• Drive innovation

“Additionality”

Business-as-usual is not

climate as usual

Important!

• Transparent• Verifiable• Valid• Permanent• Vintage

Standards

Source: EcoSystem Marketplace, New Carbon Finance, 2008

Some Variations

• Geography• Project Type• Co-benefits

CDM

JICCXVCS

Gold Standard

Green‐E

VER

Does Will it Work?

• Scale• Collaboration• Effectiveness

$43-Trillion US(opportunity IEA)

Caveats

1. Bless me Father, for I have sinned2. We can’t see the forest for the trees

Caveats

3. All your tree are belong to us4. Is it just me or is this lifeboat leaky?5. Death and taxes

DO SOMETHING!join a CRAG*

*Carbon Reduction Action Group