Voluntary emissions reduction (VER) is a carbon offset

Definitions

The Collins English Dictionary defines a carbon credit as "a certificate showing that a government or company has paid to have a certain amount of carbon dioxide removed from the environment".^[1] The Environment Protection Authority of Victoria defines a carbon credit as a "generic term to assign a value to a reduction or offset of greenhouse gas emissions.. usually equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e)."^[2]

The Investopedia Inc investment dictionary defines a carbon credit as a "permit that allows the holder to emit one ton of carbon dioxide"..which "can be traded in the international market at their current market price".^[3]

Types

There are two types of credits. Voluntary emissions reduction (VER) is a carbon offset that is exchanged in the over-the-counter or voluntary market for credits. Certified emissions reduction (CER) relies on emission units (or credits) created through a regulatory framework with the purpose of offsetting a project's emissions.^[7]

Background

The burning of fossil fuels is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions,^[8][9] especially for power, cement, steel, textile, fertilizer and many other industries which rely on fossil fuels (coal, electricity derived from coal, natural gas and oil). The major greenhouse gases emitted by these industries are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), etc., all of which increase the atmosphere's ability to trap infrared energy and thus affect the climate.

The concept of carbon credits came into existence as a result of increasing awareness of the need for controlling emissions. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has observed^[10] that:

Policies that provide a real or implicit price of carbon could create incentives for producers and consumers to significantly invest in low-GHG products, technologies and processes. Such policies could include economic instruments, government funding and regulation,

while noting that a tradable permit system is one of the policy instruments that has been shown to be environmentally effective in the industrial sector, as long as there are reasonable levels of predictability over the initial allocation mechanism and long-term price.

The mechanism was formalized in the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement between more than 170 countries, and the market mechanisms were agreed through the subsequent Marrakesh Accords. The mechanism adopted was similar to the successful US Acid Rain Program to reduce some industrial pollutants.

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