Carbon Offsets are responsible for a huge debate within the environmental and sustainability sectors. Do they help? Are standards adequate to achieve the goal of the scheme? Sould they be banned? This article presents an arguement in support of carbon offsetting, covering the basic theory and issues behind the idea.
According to a new report release by New Energy Finance, the volume of carbon credits bought and sold in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the United States matched the entire volume of credits traded on the international carbon market in the second quarter of this year. The number of carbon credits sold under the CDM in Europe, in the second quarter of this year, increased by 25% on the first quarter. However the volume of credited traded on the secondary market decreased by 15% during this period. Most of this decline was due to reductions in the volume of future contracts, possibly in reaction to the higher volume of European Emission Allowances now on the markets as a result of the economic downturn. In stark contrasts, the number of carbon credits traded in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the Northeast region here in the States, increased by 319% over the first quarter of this year.
The newly published, inaugural Carbon Salary Survey, is one the first studies to provide detailed information about professionals working in the climate change and emissions trading markets globally. The Carbon Salary Survey, which culled responses from 1,157 participants, is a collaborative project between Acre Resources, a green recruiting consulting firm; Acona, a CSR consulting firm; and Thomson Reuters Carbon Market Community. Throughout April 2009, they surveyed people working in the following areas: renewable energy; clean technology and energy efficiency; carbon finance/brokering; carbon/climate change law, policy or regulation; the project-based emissions market under the Kyoto Protocol(CDM & JI); and the voluntary offset market and climate change science. Based on the results, it appears that green professionals overall are well-paid, feel that they have job security and are happy.
