Comments on: Carbon Retirement: An Option to “Traditional” Carbon Offsets

By: Dan Lewer

Dan Lewer — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:46:51 +0000

Hi Jen,
You raise a pretty important point for us. If carbon credits are over-allocated, what we’re doing won’t work. Fortunately that’s not a big risk now we’re in phase 2 of the EU ETS. It’s been going for long enough that we have a good view of the difference between the allocation and baseline emissions – unlike phase 1, when there were no official emissions data.
Carbon Retirement is something we’d like to explore internationally. We’re sure there are opportunities in RGGI, the Western Climate Initiative, any upcoming federal scheme and other schemes elsewhere in the world. But we’d want a good degree of confidence that the allocation is right before selling an allowance retirement service as a carbon offset.
Best
Dan

By: Thomas Schueneman

Thomas Schueneman — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:49:30 +0000

Hey Jen, thanks for the thoughtful comments. I was hoping you’d weigh in on this.
I’m hoping others do as well. In fact, Dan Lewer, on the Carbon Retirement website, seeks comments about his system and offsetting in general. I think it’s a good discussion to have.

By: Jen Boynton

Jen Boynton — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:18:30 +0000

Hey Tom, great post! (And thanks for remembering my summer carbon series)
I’ve been mulling over carbon retirement as an alternative to offsetting for a while now. I honestly can’t decide whether I’m for it or against it.
The biggest potential downfall with a retirement system as a carbon offset is that if carbon credits are over-allocated in the system, retiring one doesn’t mean 1 ton of carbon will be avoided. It might not have any effect at all on carbon emission.
It *will* however mean that there are less credits for carbon emitting companies to purchase, which could mean that the price for carbon could be driven up, which would mean (hopefully) that companies will be incentivized to avoid emitting carbon. A retirement purchase also represents a vote for cap and trade and for state wide carbon systems also.
They aren’t the best choice if you’re looking for precision and instant results with your carbon purchase, though. I’d be interested in hearing other people’s thoughts!