Understanding Carbon Offsets

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Result from human activity - including fossil fuel burning for power generation

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Result from human activity - transportation

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Result from human activity - fossil fuel subsidized agriculture and its byproducts

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Methane emissions from enteric fermentation in livestock and manure management represent 25.0

percent and 9.4

percent of total CH 4 emissions from anthropogenic activities, respectively.

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange /Downloads/ghgemissions/US GHG-Inventory-2014-Chapter-6 Agriculture.pdf

(…including this kind…)

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Since food is produced with a huge fossil fuel subsidy, human emissions are net contributors to global warming!

10 kcal of exosomatic energy are required to produce 1 kcal of food delivered to the consumer in the U.S. food system.

Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy, Executive Summary, Pimentel, David and Giampietro, Mario. Carrying Capacity Network, 11/21/1994. http://www.dieoff.com/page40.htm

(…and this kind…)

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Result from human activity, e.g.: • • • •

Burning of fossil fuels Production of industrial chemicals (e.g., CFCs, certain fuels and solvents, methane) Industrial agriculture Burning and destruction of forests and other carbon sinks, etc.

Result: a net increase of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Main Sector - 2010

2010 total: 50.1 GtCO2e

(with a 95% uncertainty range of 45.6 - 54.6) (1 Gigatonne = 1 billion tonnes (10 9 or 1,000,000,000)

Transport 13%

1 Megatonne = one million tonnes (10 6 or 1,000,000).

Transport 28.1% (Canada) Transport 27.2% (USA)

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

• • •

Not all GHG emissions are comprised of carbon dioxide Some other substances (e.g., methane, CFCs) are more persistent and more effective at causing global warming than CO 2 however, GHG emissions are typically measured in ton(ne)s of CO 2 -equivalents (or ' CO 2 e ')

Problems and solutions

Global warming facts

1 ton (US) = 0.907 tonnes

Clean Air - Cool Planet. 2006. A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers. Trexler Climate and Energy Services, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA. Available online at URL: http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.pdf

Global warming facts

1 ton (US) = 0.907 tonnes

Clean Air - Cool Planet. 2006. A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers. Trexler Climate and Energy Services, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA. Available online at URL: http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.pdf

Global warming facts

1,000 tons (US) = 907 tonnes

Clean Air - Cool Planet. 2006. A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers. Trexler Climate and Energy Services, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA. Available online at URL: http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.pdf

How can we reduce GHG emissions?

• •

Reduction and conservation Creation of carbon sinks (e.g., persistent forest cover) to reverse trend of GHG buildup

•

Sequestering of carbon by other mechanisms

•

One economic strategy:

Carbon Offsets

Carbon offsetting

•

the reduction, avoidance, or sequestering of GHG emissions from a specific project by investment in another project which compensates for these emissions

•

Carbon offsets are bought, sold, and traded through a number of international brokers, online retailers, and trading platforms

Carbon offsetting

Carbon offsetting

• • • •

Examples of carbon offsetting projects: Renewable energy projects

(wind, solar, geothermal, water power)

Energy efficiency projects (

e.g.,

replacing old infrastructure with efficient infrastructure)

Fuel switching (e.g., converting from

fossil fuels to renewables like biodiesel)

Methane capture / avoidance (e.g.,

landfill gas capture and utilization)

Carbon offsetting

• • •

Examples of carbon offsetting projects:

Afforestation (planting trees where

none existed before)

Reforestation (replacing trees removed

for economic or other purposes)

Sequestering (storage of GHGs in some form of living sink (e.g., trees) or nonliving sink (e.g., deep mine storage,

mineral carbonates, other inorganic substances, etc.)

Innovative sequestering solution: CO2-based plastics

• •

Newlight Technologies Aircarbon uses plastic for capturing and sequestering carbon Newlight’s first commercial plant, in California, captures methane generated by a dairy farm’s waste lagoon and transports it to a bioreactor.

Innovative sequestering solution: CO2-based plastics

•

Newlight Technologies Aircarbon In bioreactor, enzymes combine the gas with air to form a polymer. The resulting plastic, called AirCarbon, performs identically to most oil-based plastics but costs less — creating a market- driven solution to global warming.

Video clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuOOgr4DZbE NEWLIGHT TECHNOLOGIES AIRCARBON

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/30/plastic-from-carbon-emissions/4192945 /

• • •

Carbon offsetting

counteracts or offsets greenhouse gases that would have been emitted into the atmosphere a compensating equivalent for reductions made at a specific source of emissions can be implemented quickly and at a relatively low cost

Offset criteria

Offsets must be rigorously quantified and understood

• •

Baseline - What emissions would occur in the absence of a proposed offsetting project? Additionality - Would the carbon offsetting project occur anyway — without the investment raised by selling carbon offset credits?

•

Offset criteria

Redundancy - Are the reductions already required by some other law or regulation?

•

Permanence - Are some benefits of the reductions reversible? (e.g., cutting trees to burn the wood)

•

Leakage - Does implementing the project cause higher emissions outside the project boundary?

• •

Skepticism about carbon offsets Not all carbon-offsetting schemes are created equal Analysis of the strategies is required in order to purchase offsets wisely

•

Humorous example of activist cynicism about carbon offsets: The Armchair Environmentalist's Guide to Offsets http://www.planestupid.com/?q=offset

Evaluating carbon offset programs

Evaluating carbon offset programs

• •

Available free in PDF format at http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Publications/offset_vendors.asp

Compares and ranks carbon offsetters based on the following criteria:

Carbon emissions calculator

Aircraft emissions (costs as of 17 Nov 2014):

•

LivClean – CDN $20 / tonne http://www.livclean.ca/calculator.php

•

Atmosfair – 22.93 Euros (CDN $32.26) / tonne http://atmosfair.de/en/

•

Climate Care – CDN $12.14 / tonne http://www.climatecare.org/home.aspx

Aviation impacts on global warming and local communities

Fuel efficiency of jet aircraft has improved by 70% since the 1950s Megajoules / aircraft seat kilometre

Fuel efficiency of jet aircraft has improved by 70% since the 1950s

• • • • •

However, we are flying more – Air traffic grew 5.3% in 2012 alone US FAA predicts that passenger levels will double over 2006 levels by 2018, and may triple by 2027 Aircraft in service 2012: 20,310 Aircraft to be in service 2032: 41,240 Every kg of jet fuel translates into 3 kg of CO 2 e

A looming problem in the skies

•

Aviation sector is the fastest growing contributor to global warming

• • • •

Aviation industry accounted for: 3.5% of all GHG in 1990 13% of UK total contribution to climate change 10% of all transportation related GHG in the USA in 2007 If current trends continue, aviation is expected to account for up to 15% of GGH by 2050

Sources:

UK / world data: http://www.planestupid.com/?q=climate (25 Mar 2008) US Data: Popular Science 272(2):40-46 (Mar 2008)

A looming problem on the ground

•

Airport traffic and noise have rendered some towns near airports virtually un liveable

•

Protests have ensued in many UK cities (e.g., London, Edinburgh, Newquay, Luton, Kent, Bristol, Manchester)

Time-lapse photograph of apartment in Hounslow showing one hour worth of aircraft traffic from Heathrow Airport

BBC / CBC Documentary Should I Really Give up Flying?

• Originally produced by BBC2 as a 90 minute special in 2006, broadcast January 2007 • Edited down and re-broadcast on CBC’s ‘The Passionate Eye’ in late 2007 • Overview of the problems associated with rapid expansion in commercial air travel

BBC / CBC Documentary Should I Really Give up Flying?

UPDATES – Kingfisher Airlines

• took over budget airline Air Deccan in April 2008; Vijay Mallya was chairman and CEO and G. R. Gopinath was Vice-Chairman • had the second largest share in India's domestic air travel market in 2011 • shut down operations in October 2012 due tro financial problems; Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation suspended flight certificate in late 2012 and withdrew all flight entitlements allocated to the airline in February 2013 • CEO Vijay Mallya quit on 17 Feb 2014

BBC / CBC Documentary Should I Really Give up Flying?

UPDATES – EasyJet

• now the largest airline of the United Kingdom, by number of passengers (600 routes in 32 countries) • 2007: announced plans for construction of its own carbon fibre composite airliner by 2015. No information has been released to date.

• offers carbon offsets (for a surcharge) • 2011: painted 8 aircraft with nano technology polymer to reduce debris build-up and drag, saving 1 –2% fuel annually, equating to a £14 million reduction in fuel costs

BBC / CBC Documentary Should I Really Give up Flying?

UPDATES – Airbus A380

• largest commercial airliner in the world (525 people in 3-class configuration, or up to 853 in all-economy class configuration) • entered service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines • 144 currently in service, 318 orders