What Is A Carbon Offset?
A carbon offset is a certificate representing the reduction of one metric ton (2,205 lbs) of carbon dioxide emissions. Credits are produced from companies or governments reducing their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions or operating Renewable Energy Projects and once a project has met strict criteria established through CCX, every ton of emissions reduced results in the creation of one carbon offset. Project developers can then sell these offsets to finance their projects. Offsets represent shares of those credits that individual, families, and business wishing to offset their own CO2 emissions purchase and then the credits are retired from the available pool so that they are never traded again.
There are many different types of carbon reduction projects including clean renewable energy like wind and solar power, which reduces carbon emissions from coal and oil burning power plants. In order to finance its operations, the producer can sell these reductions in the form of carbon offsets. Industries reduce their carbon emissions by using carbon capturing technologies, using solar or wind generators for their electrical usage, or changing the way they produce, package and transport their products. When they do this in a verifiable way, they can sell their reductions as carbon credits. Home Offsets buy these credits and remove them from the market by selling the retirement of the credit to individuals and families wishing participate in the climate change revolution by offsetting the emissions they create. That retirement offsets the buyer’s emissions, and the carbon removed by this transaction represents CO2 removed forever from the atmosphere. This is the same method used by countries subscribing to the Kyoto Protocols.