Carbon offsets are financial instruments that may be purchased and traded to compensate the GHG emissions released by a person or a firm. The rationale behind purchasing offsets is to balance those emissions that cannot be avoided during the course of our normal lives. If one generates emissions in the presence of an alternate sustainable way, it is generally objected to by eco-conscious people. For ease, one carbon offset is determined as the decrease of one metric ton of CO2.

Numerous nations in Europe have made nationwide legislations that permit organizations to emit up to a specific amount of emissions. If a company emits more than the assigned limit, it has to purchase carbon offsets to settle the equation. While this obligatory requirement to sustain a low carbon footprint is the major driver of carbon trading, there is another smaller voluntary market. People who care for the environment purchase offsets to eliminate their personal carbon footprint though they are not required by law to do this.

So that’s how the demand for carbon offsets arises, either due to legal regulations that somehow penalize organizations or via increasing environmental awareness amongst voluntary purchasers. But how are offsets ‘manufactured’? Offset providers take part in large scale projects that are designed to curb GHG emissions in hundreds of thousands of metric tons, and as mentioned earlier, every metric ton of greenhouse gas reduced produces an offset. The aim is to lessen the overall emissions released into the air without worrying about borders.

This is comprehensible because greenhouse gases released in one nation affect the whole planet when they mix into thin air. And that’s why several carbon offsetting projects are executed in India even though most of offset purchasers reside in Europe and North America. This approach has become famous because reducing greenhouse gases in developing nations is mostly inexpensive than curbing the same quantity of emissions in western nations.

This small article won’t enter the debate of carbon offset scams. All in all, carbon offsets do play a role in reduction of greenhouse gases if generated by legitimate projects and sold with complete transparency.

Source: Greenhouse Gas

July 31st marked the end of a battle for the air permit needed to progress plans to build a 1500 megawatt coal burning power plant in the middle of Navajo Nation territory. The EPA has signed off on this permit following a 4 year process that has saw both environmentalists and supporters pleading their cases. The permit will allow construction of this massive coal plant that claims to utilize state-of-the-art technology to reduce emissions and control pollution.

The plant, dubbed Desert Rock Energy Project, will provide $50 million in revenues and needed jobs for the Navajo tribe. Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., stated that this benefit to the tribe outweighs any environmental concerns that have been presented. 17% of the new power required by the Arizona, New Mexico and Southern Nevada region up to 2015 is expected to come from this project.

Though this outcome may be beneficial to the financial situation of the Navajo, it is a great disservice to the environment and recent clean energy projects. By continuing the construction of this plant, the EPA is reversing the goal of the United States running on clean, renewable energy. This plant will further destroy an environment that is already being taxed by heavy coal burning power plants. The Desert Rock Energy Project is being sold as a way to reduce our independence on foreign oil, but it is clearly at the expense of the environment. With the Navajo being concerned about public health, as displayed in the recent outlaw of public smoking, this decision comes as a surprise. Apparently, it is against the law for one to pollute their own lungs, but not the lungs of our Earth, as long as cash is involved.

With so much emphasise on protecting our environment by the EPA, it is shocking that such an outdated source of power production would be approved. We cannot continue to build a renewable energy grid, with decisions like these negating entire advances. Although, power needs must be met in a timely manner, we cannot continue to destroy the environment and atmosphere by polluting our rivers, land and air. Cleaner alternatives with high efficiency have already been demonstrated. Hopefully the Navajo, who have had such a concern for the Earth in the past, will see the errors in this dated technology and choose to progress with a cleaner, more environmentally friendly technology such as solar and wind power.