Carbon Offset

Here's a new article from the Guardian about companies who deal in carbon offsets.

What are carbon offsets? The basic idea is that if you are responsible for emitting carbon (e.g. you take a flight to France), you can buy a service or a slice of a service that offsets the damage done: this could come in the form of tree planting, sewage clean up in a less-developed country, or directly in the form of a carbon permit.

How much does carbon offset cost? It depends on the service you're using and on how much carbon your flight emits. If you fly from Finland to France, you won't have to offset as much (it's voluntary though) as you would if you were flying to Honduras.

By buying carbon offsets, you'll be supporting renewable energies, environmental clean up services, reforestation efforts and other anti climate change measures. The schemes aren't without critics but the point is to be doing good to offset the "bad."

Who is in this business? The article talks about companies who sell carbon offset services. Each of the carbon offset firms (here are some companies in this business) gives a different number of tonnes of CO2 emitted for the same flight; as a result, the offset cost can vary ten-fold, according to the article.

How much does it cost? That depends on the number of tonnes of carbon that one is responsible for emitting (or is assumed to) and the market price for a tonne of carbon. There is no standard number of tonnes of carbon emitted per flight of X kilometers; each carbon offset firm calculates it differently. The market price for carbon, however, is quoted (and very difficult to locate, still!) somewhere on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme website. Carbon isn't like pork bellies or crude oil, though. A while back when doing research, a website with over-the-counter secondary market prices for tonnes of carbon popped up, but unfortunately the URL got misplaced. Must go through a few emails to find it, since I did forward to someone. Anyway, like the "truth is out there", carbon prices are out there somewhere, too... only both are seemingly hard to find at times...

Slow Travel; The Trouble with Palm Oil; Venture Capitalists and Energy Policy

Writer Ed Gillespie will begin a year-long journey around the world in March. Plenty of people travel around the world every year, but Gillespie plans to do it without flying. The Guardian helps Gillespie kick off the project with a piece on slow travel. He will also be blogging about his experiences on the road.

In other news, the Netherlands are quickly learning that not all biofuels are equal or eco-friendly. A few years ago the Dutch began to advocate the use of biofuels as a substitute for oil. In a follow-up, scientists were sent to investigate the palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia. The investigative team found that the plantations used great amounts of fertilizer, cut down huge tracts of rainforest to plant more palm trees, and burned peatland for additional plantations, releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Whatever positive effects palm oil has were overshadowed by environmental degradation. A European Environment Agency representative noted, “It’s important to take a life-cycle view,” and not to “just see what the effects are here in Europe.”

Finally, the New York Times reports how tech barons take a new role: energy policy. Venture capitalists have a great stake in the outcomes of energy policy.

Chairman of Shell and Nokia on Climate Change; Traveling to Disappearing Destinations

Jorma Ollila, the chairman of the boards of Shell and Nokia, calls for strict emission controls, reports Helsingin Sanomat today. Ollila supports the EU carbon trading scheme and follows American energy policy closely. Doubling energy efficiency is the way to go, Ollila argues, shunning proposed increases in atomic energy. "Awareness of the threat of global warming was much higher than I expected," Ollila says in reference to the European oil and energy sector. Full Finnish-language article here.

For a wistful moment, check out the Guardian for a travel article called the "10 wonders of the vanishing world." Beautiful article, upsetting content, including the disappearing snows of Kilimanjaro, the disappearing snow in Austrian ski resorts and the disappearing Maldives islands. The most interesting bit is towards the end where the editor tackles the question "Should I go before it disappears?" Beyond that, should we start doing something else before they disappear?