STATES JOIN IN CALL FOR OFFSET STANDARDS

What exactly is a carbon offset? That’s what these states’ Attorneys General want the Federal Trade Commission to define. Broadly, a carbon offset is a credit purchased by a consumer or a company to pay for an emissions reductions program in the amount that person or company generates emissions. The purchased credit thereby “offsets” the climate change-causing action with an equal action against climate change. This makes the individual or company “carbon neutral” (actually “emissions neutral”).

The area, a hundred million dollar business in 2007, is rife with fraud potential. There needs, first of all, to be a mechanism to verify that the purchase money actually goes toward anything other than a certificate for the purchaser and a corvette for the seller. But even the well-intentioned can go wrong. There are many questions about money for tree-planting. Do the trees actually offset the emissions claimed? Would the trees be planted anyway? How much of the trees’ lifespan count toward the offset?

These questions are being studied by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and by the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The FTC will hopefully draw on these bodies’ hard won, trial-and-error knowledge rather than reinvent the wheel.

Carbonfund is one of the most widely recognized legit offset brokers. (click to enlarge)

10 states want federal carbon offset guidelines
February 9, 2008 (AP via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

WHO
Attorneys General for 10 U.S. states (William Sorrell, Vermont Attorney General, spokesman); Federal Trade Comission (FTC)

WHAT
10 states submitted a written request to the FTC, asking for guidelines on the sale of carbon offsets.

WHEN
- The AG’s letter was submitted January 27.
- 2007: $100 million in carbon offset sales worldwide.

Also well thought of, TerraPass shows a few ways offsets can be used. (click to enlarge)

WHERE
AGs for Vermont, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Oklahoma were signatories to the request.

WHY
FTC regulation on carbon offsets should include: research on consumers' understanding of carbon offsets, necessary disclosures by sellers, identification of what buyers require to reach informed decisions, enforcement measures.

Another recognized offset broker. But don't ask for FTC credentials because there are none available for the good, the bad or the fraudulent. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
The AG’s letter asked the FTC to set standards so as to prevent sellers from making "…overly broad environmental claims…"