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The Carbon Offset Market

by Bob Betzen

Galleryforest_1.jpgSeeking the perfect gift for that environmentally conscious special someone in your life? Why not shop for your loved one on the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE)? Carbon offset futures not romantic enough for you? It’s comforting to know that you can also purchase carbon offsets from Qantas airlines before your next flight to Australia or relax in a carbon neutral luxury resort. The possibilities are endless now that a new kind of green has flooded the markets.

The Exchange
Investors help to reduce world wide CO2 emissions because the carbon offsets they purchase fund ongoing conservation projects. The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) first opened for trading in 2003. It is “the world’s first and North America’s only active voluntary, legally binding integrated trading system to reduce emissions of all six major greenhouse gases (GHGs), with offset projects worldwide.”

Reforestation
Forests combat global warming because trees capture and store carbon dioxide. A number of conservation organizations in the business of selling carbon offsets have initiated ambitious reforestation programs in environmentally sensitive areas. Carbonfund.org is one such group. It funds reforestation projects in places like the Tensas River Valley, Louisiana and Rivas, Nicaragua. In the Tensas River Valley, Carbonfund.org supports a 1,100-acre project which will “help restore native bottomland hardwood species to Louisiana and protect over 400 species of mammals.”

Renewable Energy
Renewable energy refers to wind, solar, biomass, methane and other non-carbon producing energy sources. Investors may also purchase carbon offsets in the new clean energy facilities popping up all over the country. Carbonfund.org’s renewable energy portfolio includes a new wind farm in Iowa, a solar power plant in Stockton, California and a landfill methane facility in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Welcome to the future.

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Posted in Energy on March 11th, 2008

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One Response to “The Carbon Offset Market”

  1. Radical Avenue » Blog Archive » Mass Transit Popular Again Says:
    July 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    [...] powered vehicles to the train station every day and fill up on the way home, thereby substantially reducing air pollution from automobile emissions. Welcome the [...]

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If you want to find criticism of our government here in America, you won’t need to look far. When it comes to politics, it seems that everyone has a grievance. Radical Avenue on the other hand, takes a solutions oriented approach to public policy. It’s radical because I’m proposing fundamental changes to the structure of our government, like transferring commander in chief responsibilities to a small elected group. My philosophy is: Everyone knows we’ve got problems, so what are we going to do about it?

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