"Carbon Offsets" - Selling Our Responsibility Away

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"Carbon Offsets" - Selling Our Responsibility Away

Many of you may never have heard of the term "carbon offsets" but they are taking off in the green-friendly community right now. I was reading about them in the latest edition of World Magazine and found the concept worth talking about.

Basically, a carbon offset is a credit purchased by an individual or entity through a broker. The buyer is paying $$ to offset their greenhouse-gas emissions by funding a greenhouse-gas-reducing project somewhere in the world. These projects are going on specifically for this reason - the tabulation of carbon reductions for the purpose of selling. A major player is TerraPass, but there are many others. Apparently, there isn't much oversight of these projects, especially in the US. A big question that of "additionality" - whether the gas-reducing project is bringing added value or whether it would have been done anyway.

The World Magazine article mentioned the recent Academy Awards event in California where the promoters purchased enough carbon credits from Bonneville Environmental Foundation to supposedly offset the carbon production from the event - thereby allowing them to promote it as a "carbon neutral" event!

Again, you may not have heard of this industry yet - don't worry, you're not alone. Having learned about it, I'm still not sure it's a healthy pursuit as opposed to actual self-restraint and reformation. Carbon offsets have been compared to "modern-day indulgences". If we can just buy ourselves out of changing our lifestyles and concerns, what incentive do we have to live better? If I can buy enough carbon offsets to allow me to ignore my 9 mile-per-gallon vehicle, how will I ever grow and change?

I suppose somebody had to dream this up. What do you think? Good idea or no?

Posted by Jeff R. Geoghan - Marketing Evangelist and VP on 07/31/2007 12:10 PM

Comments (21)

lancaster pa green building, carbon offsets, energy efficiency

Originally posted at: Lancaster PA Real Estate Blog: "Carbon Offsets" - Selling Our Responsibility Away

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21 Comments on "Carbon Offsets" - Selling Our Responsibility Away

JUL

2007

Great post! I have to read more on them before I can say if I like them or not.

I think they are a copout -- especially when Mr. Environment and Inventor of the Internet Al Gore says that his recent Live Earth event was carbon neutral -- but only because of the carbon offsets -- in fact all the rockstars flew around the world on private jets to the various concert venues.

AUG

2007

Check it out, Eric. It's a big and growing industry.

Brian - one has to wonder why they would think that buying millions of carbon offsets would make us think they were "greener" that us...

Interesting information. Every little bit helps. Even if it not in the interest of fame and ease of guilt; well, if it helps the earth than it is better than not doing anything.

Jeff, this is interesting. I think I agree with you...but I'm going to check out the links so I can see what all is going on.

Katerina - I agree in principle, but I worry about the "pass" this gives to gross polluters not to reform themselves.

Steph - I know you'll dig into it! Let me know what you think.

Jeff-You do have a point. Big industrial polluters could emit for pollution and then buy their carbon credits. I understand what you are discussing. Good companies like Silk buys wind power in some type of exchange thing, I thought that was a good thing. Perhaps I just do not know enough about it to have an opinion yet.

See, it's another mind-expanding day!

We are letting our condo buyers choose a Community Car membership or to offset their new home using Native Energy. This allows the wind farms to be built in the first place. Without the investments thru the offsets people wouldn't have a chance to switch over to wind for their energy consumption. Usually these are clients that may not be very environmentally minded in the first place.

Educating them about their carbon footprint and have a certificate that they can show friends goes a long way to getting the word out. Sometimes baby steps are all we have to start with.

I think we as realtors can educate ourselves and our clients about carbon footprinting so as to put this in perspective. Would be a good post, Jenny!

AUG

2007

Hi Jeff,

it is good talking about the new industry of carbon credits. I am also doing research on the same. Jeff, but I doubt about the number of real esate projects till now which are qualified for getting carbon credits are very less, becoz it is very easy to talk but when it comes to implementation it is very tedious due to strictier norms of UNFCC. If you have any idea about such projects kindly provide me details of the same.

Bye.

I disagree that carbon offsets are "Selling Our Responsibility Away". I purchased a Terrapass for my small SUV to offset the amount of C02 that the vehicle produces over the course of the year. The money I used to purchase a Terrapass is used to fund different clean energy producing projects accross the nation. Thus reducing the demand for dirty energy plants.

Carbon offsets will create more jobs and awareness among business. Thus creating even more incentives for them to become more energy efficient. I beleive that the average American business or person is not more interest in a greener lifestyle because they don't understand it and carbon offsetting and/or credits are a great start.

AUG

2007

Great post Jeff. I am behind the curve because I couldn't log in and now I know why. I must have cookies enabled.

In response to your post Evan, I'm not sure why you don't sell the SUV. I'm in the Renewable Energy business and can tell you that Carbon Offsets are one of the biggest shams of the past decade. As I am an installer of Solar Electric, Solar Hot Air and Solar Hot Water, I am called by these companies for me to sell them "green tags", sell them the right to say they had something to do with the system so they can, in turn, find buyers of the carbon offsets. How many times do you think they can sell the same carbon offsets? Answer; as many times as they can. I'd say, where is the regulation, but, being for less government intervention, I would just recommend that the consumer understand the argument before diving headlong into buying the philosophy that some of these sham artists are selling.

I realize the carbon offset idea is confusing and I am not being accusatory here. I just see too many people in the business that I am in accepting carte blanche whatever idea comes along as long as it is packaged with a "green" bow.

I applaud you Jeff for this post. This is a subject that needs to be discussed more. Responsibility, Good Stewardship is the key. our resource consumption needs to be curtailed, by our own actions, to a rate that is more reasonable.

I think its a great idea as long as we use it to augment our efforts to reduce our carbon footprints. I don't think anyone thinking green would buy offsets in an effort to continue contribution to the carbon problem. I buy mine from Terra Pass.

AUG

2007

One of the best things that could have happened was the electric car....but the automobile industry and the petroleum companies put an end to that....with each step forward, we seem to manage to take 2 steps back. It is time to make a true commitment to save our planet!

AUG

2007

Steve Mellinger,

Terrapass is a business created by students who were challenged by their, concerned about the environment and i ride a bike everyday, college professor. The money that I spent was more of a donation. I feel that I basically donated money towards alternative energy and other business that reduces carbon emissions. Also, I attend greendrinks.org and the USGBC meetings and have heard from experts in alternative energy and passionate utility company employees who agree with offsetting, recs and carbon credits.

In response to your question about why I don't sell my small SUV:

I feel it's more sustainable to continue using it conservatively, opposed to discarding it and running out to buy a new hybrid at this time.
I also ride a motorcycle and I've begun to ride the bus whenever possible. If only Orange County had better public trans!
I'd like to hold out for an electric vehicle.
Lastly, with the Federal Reserve dumping more and more money onto the market and pulling the puppet strings, my income can only stretch so far.

AUG

2007

Carbon credit trading is little more than a convenient way to assuage guilt. While reducing your carbon footprint is a laudable goal it is best done by reducing your energy use. Trying to reduce your carbon footprint by paying a fee to have someone do "something" to reduce your carbon footprint without any way to verify the results is an exercise in futility. Tree planting is a simple example. You pay upfront for several tons of carbon credits. Some of the money is used for overhead and some goes towards planting trees. The traders are not rated based on performance or results. So $400 for 100-tons of carbon credits may go mainly to administrative costs and a few trees may be planted. The trees are planted as samplings, if they are planted at all. If trees are planted they plant enough to offset 100-tons of carbon over the 50-year lifespan of a tree. There is no way to determine if the tree will actually live 50-years or if the trees will sequester enough carbon over their life expectancy. Trees die prematurely, they get cut down, they are consumed in forest fires. Trees require adequate nutrients and water to thrive and lock up the carbon dioxide. No one monitors the trees or their performance. You end up paying forward with little hope of actually achieving the results you expected.

Another way to view carbon trading is to look at America's favorite past-time, DIETING. Suppose we accepted the idea that no one in the US should consume more than 2500 calories per day. You regularly eat 3200 calories a day. So rather than reducing your intake you pay an orphan in Somalia $18/month to subsist on 1800 calories. You are guilt free because you can now eat your normal amount because the average between you and the orphan in Somalia is 2500 calories. There are two problems. First, you are still eating too much for your own good health and secondly you don't know if the orphan actually stuck to his end of the deal. He might just increase his normal eating habits because he now has an extra $18/month.

I look at carbon credit trading as worse than worthless unless the carbon savings can be documented, ownership of the credit can be verified (to prevent it being sold more than once), and the benefit can be measured. So if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce your energy use. Don't try fooling yourself into believing that you can pay someone else to do the right thing for you.

The General

AUG

2007

Michael,

Thank you for responding in such detail. I was just talking yesterday to someone about this issue, because, I just couldn't respond with dignity to the earlier post. I actually have been doing research on terrapass and am shocked at my findings. They actually tell the whole story themselves of the buying of a concept and not a product or service if you look at their site. I'm sure the verbage will change now that it is exposed.

In my discussion yesterday, I told my associate that the only way that anyone can "verify" and thank you for using that word, because it was exactly what we were talking about, anything in the carbon credit field is that there would have to be full and unfettered disclosure of the receivables and payables of any company that did this. I am not for governmental oversite. I would rather the marketplace run the frauds out of town. Thankfully, we have a venue like this to expose it.

This all harkens back to the "snake oil salesman" days, but, the snake oil was at least oil. It would have some use. The buying and selling of carbon credits or whatever you want to call them today actually makes a new carbon footprint. Those that trade on this concept have to use computers, phones, electricity (possibly from coal burning) and may have to heat entire buildings just to sell a "feel good concept" that has no tangible value and also profits the "snake oil salesmen"!

This is a pretty interesting conversation - which of course I was hoping for when I posted it. Thanks all.

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Jeff R. Geoghan - Marketing Evangelist and VP

Lancaster, PA

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Coldwell Banker Select Professionals

Address: 1000 North Prince Street, Lancaster, PA, 17603

Office Phone: (717) 735-8400

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