Naughty little boys and girls get a lump of coal in their Christmas stockings; green little boys and girls get…carbon credits to take coal gases out of the atmosphere and fight global warming. The Science Museum of London and UK specialty gift retailer MoonEstates.com are selling the Climate Relief Gift Pack, which includes 100 kilograms (about 220 pounds) worth of carbon credits bought on the European carbon trading market, known as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The market helps European countries meet their obligations under the Kyoto Accord by setting greenhouse gas emission limits and then requiring corporations that exceed that cap to purchase credits from those companies that have lowered their emissions. In other words, by purchasing the Climate Relief Gift Pack – retailing for Ł20 or about $40 – you take the right to emit 100 kilograms of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases off the market, offsetting your personal "carbon footprint" from driving, flying – and buying all those PlayStation 3s, iPods and other carbon-producing holiday presents.
Therein lies a business opportunity: personal carbon trading products have been proliferating like coal-fired power plants in China, often confusing enviro-minded citizens about which are legitimate carbon offset services and which are just green-fleecing schemes. What’s needed is someone to create a certification program to give a green seal of approval to legitimate personal carbon trading services and to roll up these various programs.
The cynical take is that buying carbon credits lets consumers assuage
their green guilt without changing their lifestyle in ways
that actually reduce their own everyday greenhouse gas emissions –
like trading the Landcruser for a Prius, downsizing from a McMansion,
replacing light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, or even turning
off the laptop when its not in use. The more charitable view is that personal carbon credits raise consumer consciousness, and when bought from bona fide organizations like the European carbon market, do indeed help combat global warming.
The problem with the European carbon market is that it is not working as anticipated. As The Economist reports in a recent issue, some European governments allocated too many pollution permits to polluters, causing the price of carbon credits to plummet in recent months. The problem is fixable and may just be the growing pains of a complicated new market beset by conflicting national priorities.
Green Wombat 
What is being described here is carbon offset products, not personal carbon trading. The latter would involve the tradability of those carbon credits, which is clearly not the case with this Climate Relief Pack.
To find out what personal carbon trading is, I suggest readers take a look at our website dedicated to the subject at http://www.rsacarbonlimited.org. It also contains a podcast of a lively RSA panel discussion on the subject of carbon offset, with speakers from iied, Climate Care, nef and Green Alliance.
Although the carbon market has been working through a rough patch, the underlying principle of using market forces is a sound approach.
While there is no “one size fits all” answer to all our environmental problems, I applaud this innovative approach of dealing with a serious problem.
Carbon offsets as a gift just might be the tipping point between inaction and action for some folks, once they see how easy it can be to make a big difference.
If you happen to be an American, please consider supporting the non-profit carbon offset company, DriveNeutral. Though the US has not passed the Kyoto Protocol, we do have a carbon trading market called the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). CCX is voluntary to join but legally binding for all members. Companies like DuPont, Bayer, Ford, IBM have already joined. Cities like Chicago, Oakland, and Boulder have joined. There are also universities, non-profits, and other institutions participating in this US-based cap and trade program.
All credits that are traded on the CCX result in net decreases of greenhouse gas emissions. All reduction credits are third-party verified, and legally enforceable. That’s why these are the only types of US-based carbon credits DriveNeutral members support.
Check us out on the web at http://www.DriveNeutral.org and this holiday season, wrap up climate change!
In regards to personal and business carbon trading – consider keeping an eye on this site: http://www.celsias.com/blog
It’s the world’s first online community for households and businesses to get paid for reducing the carbon emissions from their everyday energy usage. Version 1 is currently being tested, and Version 1.5 due to be released early 2007. The mechanisms that will be available through the Celsias engine will go a long way towards helping establish a tangible and credible carbon trading market that anyone can get involved with.
Compact Fluorescent Lamp
CFLs use about one-third as much energy as How much