Transcript Understanding Carbon Offsets

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
(…including this kind…)
Anthropogenic greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions
(…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)
• 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 (109
or 1,000,000,000)
Transport
13%
1 Megatonne =
one million tonnes
(106 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., CFCs)
are more persistent and more
effective at causing global warming
than CO2
• however, GHG emissions are
typically measured in ton(ne)s of
CO2-equivalents (or 'CO2e')
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, etc.)
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 carbonoffsetting 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:
Evaluating carbon offset programs
Clean Air - Cool
Planet. 2006. A
Consumer's Guide to
Retail Carbon Offset
Providers. Available
online at URL:
http://www.cleanaircoolplanet.org/Consu
mersGuidetoCarbon
Offsets.pdf
Sources:
• The Climate Trust. What is an offset?
http://www.climatetrust.org/about_offsets.php
• 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.cleanaircoolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.pdf
• Plane Stupid. The Armchair Environmentalist's Guide to
Offsets. Available online at URL
http://www.planestupid.com/index.php?location=offsets
• Carbon offset. Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_offset
Carbon emissions calculator
Aircraft emissions:
• LivClean –
CDN $20 / tonne
http://www.livclean.ca/calculator.php
• Atmosfair –
15 Euros (CDN $23) / tonne
http://atmosfair.de/index.php?id=9&L=3
• Climate Care –
7.28 GBP (CDN $16.50) / tonne
http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/
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 by 14% in 2004 alone
• US FAA predicts that passenger
levels will double by 2018, and may
triple by 2027
• Aircraft in service 2005: 12,676
• Aircraft to be in service 2025: 27,307
• Every kg of jet fuel translates into 3
kg of CO2e
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 unliveable
• 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
Sources:
• Aviation Campaign: Friends of the Earth Manchester
http://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/planetruth/index.htm
• Penner, J. et al. 1999. Aviation and the Global Atmosphere.
Summary available online at URL:
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JgphajrWfOsC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=%22Penner%22
+%22Aviation+and+the+Global+Atmosphere:+A+Special+Report+of+...%22+&ots=N8MeEWpgS5&sig
=2VJRvNPgUY1fLNENJ1SWkszcmbk#PPP1,M1
• Peeters P.M., J. Middel, A. Hoolhorst. 2005. Fuel efficiency of
commercial aircraft: An overview of historical and future trends.
Nationaal Lucht Lucht- en Ruimt Ruimtevaartlaboratorium
evaartlaboratorium (National Aerospace Laboratory NLR), The
Netherlands
http://www.transportenvironment.org/docs/Publications/200
5pubs/2005-12_nlr_aviation_fuel_efficiency.pdf
• Plane Stupid (UK NGO website):
http://www.planestupid.com/index.php?location=main