According to a study released by the The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency China has overtaken the US as the top emitter of CO2 into the atmosphere (the greenhouse gas most linked to rising global average temperatures). However, because there are so many more people in China than in the US ... the average citizen of the US wins the title of most CO2 emitted per person. Europeans are among the top five in both lists... so there's lots of work to do throughout the world.
"China tops the list of CO2 emitting countries, having about a quarter share in global CO2 emissions (24%), followed by the USA (21%), the EU-15 (12%), India (8%) and the Russian Federation (6%)"
"Top 5 CO2 emissions in metric tons of CO2 per person are: USA (19.4), Russia (11.8), EU-15 (8.6), China (5.1 ) and India (1.8)"
source: http://www.mnp.nl
Pundits and politicians have been using the rising CO2 emissions from China and India as reasons prevent the US from spending money to curb emissions on the grounds that lowering US emissions will be meaningless if China and India do not also reduce their emissions.
I think the US should act and show some moral leadership - reducing the US Carbon footprint by 10 or 20% would significantly reduce the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere... BUT the punditry is correct on some points... the Chinese and Indian share of the global emissions pie IS growing... the world community must find a way to reduce CO2 emissions all over the world... it's not just science, fancy engineering and people recycling locally ... we need some geopolitical heavy hitters to resolve USA's and China's 'you first' attitude to reducing emissions.
From TheCattleFish
Showing posts with label CO2 Trading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CO2 Trading. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Carbon Forum America - attempts to contol carbon offset claims
A couple of weeks ago Carbon Forum America (Feb 26-27, San Fran)held a conference designed to bring businesses together to discuss issues surrounding trading greenhouse gas emission credits.
"Chicago/Geneva/Cologne/Washington/ Ottawa – February, 2008
After two days of conference sessions, exhibitor presentations via “Side Events“ and interaction on the trade show floor, Carbon Forum America came to a close at the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the event took place on February 26-27, 2008. The event was jointly organized between the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Chicago-based show organizer Koelnmesse, Inc...."
It seems that lots of companies got together to talk about CO2 trading. The conference was supported by Sen. Feinstein and some heavy hitters involved in UN climate change policy, CA utility companies and the World Bank. The press release is available here but it doesn't say much.
The forum hasn't had a huge impact on the media - the Indian based, Economic Times seems to be one of the very few newspapers that have picked up on a few outcomes from the conference. The article gave a quick list of Non-profit groups who are trying to make market based solutions to greenhouse gas emissions more transparent.
"Four non-profit entities used their presence at Carbon Forum America to present and interactively discuss their contributions to ensuring offset integrity..." ET. Carbon markets for improved offset quality standards 3 Mar, 2008, 1932 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
Market based solutions like carbon trading rely to some extent on a stable and universally agreed price for carbon. The large number of companies offering carbon offsets might seem encouragingly green to some but the lack of any real regulation means that companies can mis-represent how much carbon they can sequester, which reduces peoples confidence in the overall idea.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the The Climate Group are putting forward a Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) which will verify the claims of carbon offset companies and projects. Similarly the Offset Quality Initiative is a group set up by several NGOs to help smooth the way for market based solutions to curbing climate change. 'Green-e Climate', focused on electricity produced from renewable energy, has been launched by the Center for Resource Solutions.
There are several of these initiatives popping up here and there - but they are in their infancy... they, like carbon offsets themselves, are yet to be proven
Dave
"Chicago/Geneva/Cologne/Washington/ Ottawa – February, 2008
After two days of conference sessions, exhibitor presentations via “Side Events“ and interaction on the trade show floor, Carbon Forum America came to a close at the Moscone Center in San Francisco where the event took place on February 26-27, 2008. The event was jointly organized between the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Chicago-based show organizer Koelnmesse, Inc...."
It seems that lots of companies got together to talk about CO2 trading. The conference was supported by Sen. Feinstein and some heavy hitters involved in UN climate change policy, CA utility companies and the World Bank. The press release is available here but it doesn't say much.
The forum hasn't had a huge impact on the media - the Indian based, Economic Times seems to be one of the very few newspapers that have picked up on a few outcomes from the conference. The article gave a quick list of Non-profit groups who are trying to make market based solutions to greenhouse gas emissions more transparent.
"Four non-profit entities used their presence at Carbon Forum America to present and interactively discuss their contributions to ensuring offset integrity..." ET. Carbon markets for improved offset quality standards 3 Mar, 2008, 1932 hrs IST, TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES
Market based solutions like carbon trading rely to some extent on a stable and universally agreed price for carbon. The large number of companies offering carbon offsets might seem encouragingly green to some but the lack of any real regulation means that companies can mis-represent how much carbon they can sequester, which reduces peoples confidence in the overall idea.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the The Climate Group are putting forward a Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) which will verify the claims of carbon offset companies and projects. Similarly the Offset Quality Initiative is a group set up by several NGOs to help smooth the way for market based solutions to curbing climate change. 'Green-e Climate', focused on electricity produced from renewable energy, has been launched by the Center for Resource Solutions.
There are several of these initiatives popping up here and there - but they are in their infancy... they, like carbon offsets themselves, are yet to be proven
Dave
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