As awareness of climate change has grown so the need to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases which have caused it, of which CO2 is the most dominant, has also been recognised. This has led in turn to the adoption, following the third Conference of Parties summit in Kyoto (the "Kyoto Protocol"), of legislative measures that both force companies to reduce emissions and also to "offset" those emissions which unavoidably remain. The carbon trading market has developed as a consequence.
The carbon market is complex but in its simplest terms divides into two sectors:
1) The Compliance Market
2) The Voluntary Sector
The Compliance Market
In order to be considered an “offset” in the compliance market, projects are limited to those taking place in developing countries in line with the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism.
This instrument was designed to see the industrialised world finance low emissions development in poorer nations; the resulting carbon credits are traded in carbon markets such as the European Trading System (ETS).
The overwhelming majority of traded carbon is of the “avoided emissions” variety: examples include wind and solar farms, hydro-electric power and other low emissions solutions.
Download article About the Carbon Market to read out more about the Compliance Market.
The Voluntary Sector
The Voluntary Sector can include projects in developed countries, such as those in our Woodland Carbon scheme. These projects are often of a higher quality, bringing additional benefits over and above the carbon savings. This can include social, environmental and biodiversity benefits.
The Woodland Trust's Woodland Carbon is a voluntary scheme. Our environment is enriched by creating new native woodland in the UK, people have more green space in which to relax and enjoy life, wildlife benefits from new habitat, and the landscape itself becomes more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
In addition to these benefits, carbon is being removed locally. It's true it takes longer to remove a tonne of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the UK than, say, in the Tropics, but the wider benefits are only locally delivered. No amount of Amazon rainforest is ever going to provide habitat for our wildlife!
Find out more
Contact us to find out how Woodland Carbon can benefit your business. Call Katherine on 01476 581112 or email corporatepartnerships@woodlandtrust.org.uk.