Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through Carbon Credits

By Micheal Fisher

The dangerous levels of hazardous greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the atmosphere has led to global concern over the highly destructive effects they have on the environment. Carbon credits and carbon offset are methods that have been introduced for improving the present critical situation by encouraging companies to utilize greener methods for running their business.

The system of carbon credits is a recent phenomenon. One carbon credit allows discharge of one tonne of CO2 or a corresponding amount of some other greenhouse gas into the air. The carbon trading method, which is basically the financial transaction of these carbon credits, results in limiting of global emissions.

Each company is given an allowance of carbon credits, which governs the extent to which it can release CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Carbon trading is used when the organization's emissions exceed its quota of carbon credits, forcing it to purchase credits from other companies that have adopted more ecological ways of functioning and hence have carbon credits to spare.

As a consequence, the worldwide carbon emissions stay below permissible levels, and the companies resort to eco friendly ways of doing business so that their emissions are lesser and they are saved from making extra expenditure on carbon credits. This scheme is beneficial for organizations using eco friendly techniques to keep trying in this respect as they can make more profits from carbon credits trading.

Carbon credits can be bought like any other product as they are sold in an open market and there are various agencies that trade in them. In fact, even if you are not representing a company, you can choose to buy carbon credits in order to reduce your carbon footprint. The money you invest in this way is used for sponsoring ecological campaigns that are running across the world in order to counterbalance the effects of emissions from your actions. - 30520

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