Media
Carbon Offsets & US Cap-and-Trade System Can Work Hand in Hand on Global Warming
Under President Obama, the US is rapidly moving toward a comprehensive cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. President Obama’s proposed budget according to Reuters includes billions in revenues generated through cap-and-trade. As currently envisioned, the plan is estimated to help America achieve 83% emissions reductions below 2005 levels by 2050. Carbon offsets are important to helping achieve these reductions and making a cap-and-trade work effectively.
It makes sense to put an entire wind farm in windy prairies than in Atlanta. It can also make more sense to plant many trees in highly productive tropical and subtropical lands. The carbon reductions generated from these projects are real and produce the same effect on the atmosphere, but when a project is located on the best site, the results and cost are usually better.
Emissions reductions strategies should focus on cost effective means to reduce emissions, which is why any potential federal cap-and-trade program should include provisions for carbon offsetting. Regional cap-and-trade programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which covers 10 East Coast states, allow for a portion of the emissions reductions to be achieved through carbon offsets.
Carbon offsets will allow industries covered by a federal cap-and-trade to implement the most cost effective reduction strategies and help minimize fluctuations in the price for energy and commodities. Offsets will not replace the work that has to be done to reduce industrial emissions at the source, but they will facilitate the transition to a clean energy economy and help businesses build-in a variety of emissions reduction strategies.
In the end, the emissions reductions achieved through a balanced approach to fighting global warming through local reductions and carbon offsets will work. And moreover, the Earth’s climate doesn’t care if emissions are reduced in New York City, Taipei, or Johannesburg – as it will benefit from reductions that are real and verifiable.
