Make low-carbon solutions attractive

Welcome back from the festive season. I hope everyone had a good break and is enjoying a positive start to the new year.

We all have high expectations of what 2010 will bring. Of one thing you can almost be sure, in 2010 the world will make big advances in low-carbon solutions.

But the question will remain, "how do we get people and business to shift from high carbon fossil fuels such as coal and oil to low-carbon solutions"? To do that we need to make low-carbon solutions more economically attractive!

One way to achieve the transition is to change the equilibrium of energy by Making low-carbon solutions such as natural gas, wind and solar more economic attractive. It makes a lot of sense. Rather than waiting until “E-day” (the 'End' of easily accessible high grade oil) we can slowly wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

How do we achieve this? We use an already established pricing mechanism to slowly change the price differential between oil and low-carbon energy.

One such pricing mechanism is the European Emissions Trading Scheme. The price is the value of a carbon credit. A carbon credit puts a price on a tonne of carbon dioxide. By purchasing and cancelling a credit you are removing it from a limited pool of credits before it can be used to emit carbon dioxide. The price of the remaining credits will likely rise as a result of the diminishing supply. Emitters will be forced to invest in low-carbon solutions making them more economically attractive – the only way to a sustainable future!

There is a reason that this sounds like simple, transparent and effective way to make low-carbon solutions attractive. It is.

Carbon Emissions Reduction - It's Easy

David Birley's video shows how easy it is to reduce global carbon emission credits.

When David Birley from InfoExpress heard about Climakind he was completely taken by the simplicity and effectiveness of the idea. So taken that he went back to his office and created the ‘It’s Easy’ video. The video captures the attention and amazes the senses, all while showing how easy it is to reduce carbon emission credits through Climakind – that’s what I call information express!

A well designed framework to reduce emissions | Part 1 - Quality Credits

In this series we will look at what is really necessary to have a successful Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) . The ETS has been the focus of a lot of negative press recently. However, it is not the ETS which is the problem. Like any solution it is the design which is important. What credits are included, who is directly included (those that must comply), the targets and the timing are all key issues.

In Part 1 we will look at a key area of a well designed ETS - the quality of the credits included in the scheme.

This is probably the most important area of design. What we must ensure is that the quality of emissions reduction remains high. How do you measure carbon emission quality? Let's have a look...

When it comes to carbon credits, quality can be determined by the ability to demonstrate that the resulting reduction of carbon emissions is genuine, that is, it must be verifiable, measurable and additional.

Carbon credits in a compliance-regulated Emissions Trading Scheme offer emissions reduction that is robust and verifiable. The credits are easily measured and make additional cuts in emissions beyond agreed targets. Buying and cancelling credits ensures the carbon dioxide they represent will never be emitted.

This is proactive carbon emissions reduction – the emissions never occur. As opposed to projects that sequester carbon dioxide – which are reactive because the carbon has already been released.

At the same time your efforts help drive investment in low-carbon solutions because there are fewer credits available. In the long run, it helps ensure low-carbon solutions become more economically attractive – the only way to a sustainable future.

We need proactive emissions reduction

Some politicians do not seem to understand. We need real carbon emissions reduction, not some cover-up. All the talk about forestation and land use change is not solving the real problem, our reliance on fossil fuels. Sure we can do with more trees because of the carbon they take out of the atmosphere, but this bio-sequestration is reactive. It encourages the carbon emissions to occur and then deals with them.

We need to be proactive! We need a way to wean ourselves off fossil fuels – a way to make low-carbon solutions economically attractive. We need a well designed framework to reduce carbon emissions - one that achieves strong targets and provides for economic stability and growth.

Every scheme has advantages and disadvantages, be it a tax, a cap & trade, an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), or a cap & dividend. However there is one little discussed and very powerful advantage of an ETS, it allows individuals and organisations to directly interact and help force deep cuts in carbon emissions. Companies such as Climakind.com provide an interface to buy and cancel carbon credits on an ETS. The cancelled credits are removed from ever being used to emit carbon dioxide! At the same time your efforts help drive investment in low-carbon solutions – the only way to a sustainable future.

Climate change or not we need an ETS to reduce our dependence on oil before it becomes scarce. The additional benefit of investment in low-carbon solutions reduces pollution. It is a win-win scenario.

Contributed by: Michael Salvatico

Image credit: Codo via Flickr Creative Commons.