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Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is an amount of pollution emitted by a person, an organisation, event, or product. Every one of us has a carbon footprint because day to day modern living means that we are all responsible for releasing pollutants into the air through means such as travelling, using electricity and how we dispose of our domestic waste, etc. this will not change but there are many practices that we can all adopt such as switching off appliances, buying energy saving products and choosing the services of companies who are actively involved in reducing emissions and are environmentally aware.
It is widely accepted that Planet Earth has gone through many changes in its history such as natural events such as the ice age, major volcanic eruptions and many other disasters. There is little doubt that the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, over the last 200 years together with world deforestation, has resulted in the warming of the planet because of a build up of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere and trapping heat therfore raising the Earth’s temperature.
Whilst a certain amount of greenhouse gases are necessary to keep the planet warm enough to sustain life, this increase has many consequences such as rising sea levels, melting ice caps and extreme weather conditions which have been witnessed and recorded over many years. It is uncertain what the long term effects of this will be but most experts agree that human activity is largely to blame for this phenomenon and predict that unless measures are taken, the results will be catastrophic. One of those measures is Carbon Credits.
So what are Carbon Credits?
Carbon credits are trade-able financial instruments in response to the Kyoto Protocol mechanism negating further global warming. Each Credit represents the right to emit one metric ton of pollution. Emissions trading, which is also called cap and trade, has evolved as a means of reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the Earth's atmosphere. This clever system of trading creates a financial as well as a legal incentive to comply. Carbon Credits can be traded privately, through a broker, or on the spot markets like any stock.
The European Climate Exchange (ECX) is the largest spot market for Carbon Credits, followed by the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) in the US. Since many countries now have their own emission reduction targets to achieve, caps have been placed on industries on the amount of pollution they are allowed to release. This is issued in the form of permits aka Carbon Credits. If they produce more pollution than permitted they will either have to reduce their emissions themselves, which may involve considerable expense investing in technology and machinery to achieve this.
Alternatively they may purchase Carbon Credits from a "Clean Development Mechanism" (CDM) verified project to offset their emissions. An example of this would be a business with a factory that typically produces 10,000 tons of CO2 per annum with a cap imposed permitting them only 8,000 tons in emissions. They may decide the best way for them to comply would be to purchase 2,000 carbon credits to offset their own polluting rather than incur the expense of trying to reduce their own emissions. Please watch the video above for further explanation of Carbon Credits. Or click here for a Wiki description. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_credit]
Carbon calculators:
Carbon Neutral Flights
Business travel
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Who creates Carbon Credits, what is a project?
The credits are created by any entity that has developed a technology that is internationally recognised as having actively reduced, stored or avoided (also called sequestration) a measurable pollutant. This could be anything from wind farms, solar energy, methane capture, forestry projects, biofuels, etc., which assist in the global reduction of the various emissions in question. All industries are involved from agriculture, mining, chemicals, manufacturing, waste disposal, sewage and so on, the list is endless. All businesses produce greenhouse gases in varying forms and degrees and with the new laws in place the trading of carbon credits is already booming.
Investment
We understand that for the most, investors naturally look first and foremost at the return on their investment (ROI) and with big financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan - [http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/11/technology/jpmorgan_carbon.fortune/index.htm] etc. trailblazing the way in the traditional financial world, with big hitters such as Google getting on board, this will be an extremely rewarding investment for early participants. With our carefully researched and verified projects, our prices are very competitive so the potential is huge, especially with the cap and trade market anticipated to kick off in the US, China in 2012 and the new Australian compliance market recently put in place. Often referred to as a "pre-compliance buy" before regulation is introduced, investors are buying at the earliest opportunity, especially while quality carbon credits are available in limited amounts.
Purchasing carbon credits is conservatively expected to achieve returns of 30%-40% per year but some experts believe that between 200% and 500% is possible within a 4-5 year timeframe.
One common reason for purchases in this market is as a “pre compliance buy” (those buying in anticipation of regulation). This relates mainly the federal cap and trade system expected to be implemented in the US imminently. Anticipated in approximately 18-24 months.
It was recently reported by one of the leading carbon trading platforms that all voluntary credits are set to increase in value because, at the Copenhagen COP15 conference in 2009, the Kyoto Protocol failed to be extended beyond 2012. The regulatory CDM credits born out of the protocol may, therefore, cease to exist so the marketplace is now rushing to buy voluntary credits to mitigate this situation and diversify their portfolios.
Now is the time to buy!...
For investors wishing to get involved, the voluntary carbon market is a great starting point due to a low cost entry level and the creation of recognised and identifiable carbon standards, true and transparent verifications by credible third party organisations and official registries and exchanges allowing clients to see their investment and track it throughout. Like any commodities market, timing and cost are key and the old adage "buy low and sell high" will apply in this situation which is why now is the time. Globally we are entering an exciting era and the new "green boom" is providing a once in a lifetime, historic opportunity to get involved at the early stages creating the ideal position for maximum returns whilst doing our bit for the planet. This is why it is important to purchase quality Carbon Credits from verifiable projects through consultants such as InvestUS who;
* Offer Validated high quality carbon credits of VSC and Gold Standard.
* Select projects that represent the best value for our clients whilst paying careful consideration to the merits of each project regarding the true impact on the environment and the local communities.
* After several months of due diligence, we ensure that every project we put in front of a client has been verified by a reputable and recognised entity and is officially registered and, therefore traceable and trackable ensuring 100% transparency for all involved.
* We do not promise or guarantee any returns but believe that what we offer, due to the above points, exposes our clients to the least possible risk whilst offering the best possible potential for profit.
* Clients are able to see their credits on the public registry and the validation report prior to purchasing and when they receive their certificates which represent their credits, they also receive a unique no. that makes it trackable and traceable on the public registry.
Note: Some companies are able to reduce their emissions in varying degrees but for many it can be extremely difficult or not economically viable to achieve. buying carbon credits earned from a CDM verified emission reduction project can help offset the emissions and, in turn, the revenue earned from the sale of those credits further assists in the funding of that emission project. If you are a business and are looking for competitive carbon credits rates for offsetting emissions please click here.
According to the New York Times, "carbon trading is one of the fastest growing specialities in financial services." Currently, the market is at 30 billion USD and it could expand to 1 trillion USD during the next 10 years.
Responses from over 2,000 carbon market professionals and their expectations for carbon prices by 2020 show that during the last 3 years of surveys, they consistently project prices of 30-50 USD per tCO2e. Overall, we believe most that high quality VER's have the potential to produce an ROI of between 200% and 500% over the next few years.
New York Times:
"Carbon Trading is one of the fastest growing specialities in Financial Services."
Louis Redshaw, Barclays Capital:
"Carbon will be the world's biggest commodity market & it could become the world's biggest market overall"
CFCT Commissioner:
"Carbon trading may dwarf that of crude oil within 5 years - worth 2 trillion"
Fortune:
"JPMorgan isn't alone. All the big global investment banks including Barclay's, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch are hurrying into carbon finance"
Chris Leeds, Head of Emissions Trading, Merrill Lynch, London:
"Carbon could become one of the fastest growing markets ever, with volumes comparable to credit derivatives inside of a decade"
Barclays PLC:
"United Nations Carbon Credit prices may rise as much as 42% by 2012"
President Barack Obama
"To truly transform our economy, protect our security and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy"
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