Green Wombat

While Congress debates establishing a national carbon trading market to combat global warming, New Orleans-based utility Entergy (ETR) today said it had purchased emissions credits from Nike (NKE) to offset 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases from its operations. The transaction was conducted through the Greenhouse Gas Registry program run by the Environmental Resources Trust,
a non-profit offshoot of green group Environmental Defense. Here’s how it works: Corporations register their greenhouse gas emissions with the Trust, which verifies the numbers and sets an emissions target.  Outside auditors verify any qualified reductions in metric tons of emissions, which then can be sold as credits. For instance, the registry shows that since 2000, Entergy has  purchased emissions credits from DuPont (DD), Shell (RDS-B) and other companies. In 2005, Entergy’s baseline emissions were 60 million metric tons but its actual emissions that year were about 45 million tons. In 2006, the utility reduced its spew to 38.9 million metric tons, Entergy spokesman Chris Winters told Green Wombat. Counting the most recent purchase, Entergy has bought credits worth a total of 740,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and has been reducing its emissions steadily in recent years. "Environmental Defense and Entergy have partnered … to stabilize Entergy’s emissions at 20 percent below 2000 levels through 2010," Winters said. The company relies on natural-gas and nuclear plants to generate electricity and has joined utilities PG&E (PCG) and Duke (DUK) in calling for the imposition of a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. "The key to shifting markets and the economy to a more carbon-neutral position includes a robust carbon offset market," said Entergy executive Brent Dorsey in a statement.