UnderstandingCarbon Offsets

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Result from human activity

- including fossil fuel burningfor power generation

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Result from human activity

- transportation

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Result from human activity

- fossil fuel subsidized agricultureand 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

Transport 13%

2010 total: 50.1 GtCO2e

(with a 95% uncertainty rangeof 45.6 - 54.6)

(1 Gigatonne = 1 billion tonnes (109 or 1,000,000,000)

Transport 28.1%

(Canada)

Transport 27.2%(USA)

1 Megatonne =one million tonnes(106 or 1,000,000).

• 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')

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

Problems and solutions

Global warming facts

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

1 ton (US) = 0.907 tonnes

Global warming facts

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

1 ton (US) = 0.907 tonnes

Global warming facts

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

1,000 tons (US) = 907 tonnes

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 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 Offsetshttp://www.planestupid.com/?q=offset

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

Evaluating carbon offset programsClean Air - Cool Planet. 2006. A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon Offset Providers. Available online at URL: http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/ConsumersGuidetoCarbonOffsets.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.cleanair-coolplanet.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 / tonnehttp://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) / tonnehttp://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 1950sHowever, 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 warmingAviation 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

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 Netherlandshttp://www.transportenvironment.org/docs/Publications/2005pubs/2005-12_nlr_aviation_fuel_efficiency.pdf

• Plane Stupid (UK NGO website): http://www.planestupid.com/index.php?location=main