A standard for voluntary carbon credit programmes
Blog Green Business News is reporting on the The Climate Group’s proposed standard for voluntary carbon credit programmes.
The proposed standard aims to cover those voluntary carbon emission reduction projects not covered by the Kyoto Protocols Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and help clear up the controversy surrounding corporate carbon offsetting projects.
Critics claim the lack of an international standard is being exploited by some fraudulent greenhouse gas reduction projects that sell more carbon credits than they actually produce, leaving firms mistakenly believing that they have offset all their own carbon emissions.
The proposed certification from The Climate Group and the International Emissions Trading Association will aim to deliver “a certification tool for project based GHG emission reductions that are real, measurable, permanent, additional and independently verified”.
In short, agreed international standards will hopefully stop you getting ripped off and buying a carbon credit that has already been sold to someone else, or maybe never existed in the first place.
While in London recently we took the time to meet up with Mark Kenber, The Climate Group’s Policy Director, who outlined the goals of the standard. Carbon Planet enthusiastically supports this standard as it raises the bar for the entire offset industry. There are a number of scammers entering the industry and they damage the credibility of carbon offset schemes for everyone. — DS
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