CONTENTS
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………3
INTRODUCTION
           Global
Warming…………………………………………………………………….4
           Consequences of Global Climate
Change…………………………………………5
KYOTO PROTOCOL AND CARBON TRADING
……………………………………..9
Selling
and Buying Project-Based Emission Reductions………………………...11
           Baseline Measurements…………………………………………………………….11
CARBON
MARKET……………………………………………………………………….12
METHODOLOGY
FOR THE EVALUATION OF CARBON SEQUESTRATION
TECHNOLOGIES………………………………………………………………………….13
           Approach……………………………………………………………………………13
           The
costs…………………………………………………………………………….14
CARBON CREDIT
PRICES………………………………………………………………15
THE
BUYERS………………………………………………………………………………16
THE
SELLERS……………………………………………………………………………..17
INDIAN
PART………………………………………………………………………….......19
CRITICISM…………………………………………………………………………….......22
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………..24
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………..25
GLOSSARY…………………………………………………………………………….......26
Abstract
A Growing Environmental Problem One of the environmental
threats our planet faces today is the potential for long-term changes in the
Earth's climate and temperature patterns known as global climate change.
According to Scientists, as a result of global climate change, the Earth's
average temperature could increase as much as six and one-half degrees
Fahrenheit by the year 2100. While this may not sound like much of an increase,
if the temperature increase approaches the six and one-half degree mark, the
Earth will be a much different place than we know it today. To gain an appreciation
of how different the Earth could be, consider that during the last ice age, when
our planet was on average only nine degrees Fahrenheit cooler, the area that is
now New York City was under 1,000
feet of ice. This can happen and to prevent this sort of
disruption to the many natural and human systems that everyone on our planet
depends on, we must all work to control global climate change. Determining the potential
causes of global climate change has been a long-term process that has involved
the work of thousands of scientists around the world.
An important step in this process was made in 1995 when
over 2,500 scientists from around the world agreed for the first time that
emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities have influenced the
global climate. As a result, the question is no longer whether humans are
altering the world's climate, but where, when, and by how much. The great
importance of this scientific conclusion is that we now know that in order to prevent
the onset of catastrophic changes to the Earth's climate, humans must reduce their
emissions of greenhouse gases.
Under
international agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol, most of the world has
agreed to limit greenhouse gas emissions to a predetermined level. Countries
and companies that exceed those limits – that pollute more than they’re
supposed to – need to offset those emissions somehow. One of the ways they can
do that is to purchase carbon credits from those people and organizations who
are puffing out less emissions than they should, or who are even reducing
emissions. It is a marketing tool to reduce the
greenhouse effect emissions
on an industrial scale by capping total annual emissions and letting the market
assign a monetary value to any shortfall through trading. Credits can be exchanged
between businesses or bought and sold in international markets at the
prevailing market price. Credits can be used to finance carbon reduction
schemes between trading partners and around the world. However, it is difficult to stay fully informed about
carbon credits because of the complexity and the pace of developments on the subject.
This report looks at the current situation on carbon credit markets and trade.
